CHARLOTTE — Practice had been over for almost half an hour before the trio of Panthers leaders wrapped up their conversation. While Dave Canales and defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero recapped Monday, a physical day of padded practice, Bryce Young, Mike Jackson, and Nick Scott cordoned themselves off to the side, deep in discussion for well over 20 minutes.

The discussion topic, to anyone watching, wasn't hard to guess: the mid-practice scuffle that required a little bit more time for cooler heads to prevail than previous brawls.

"Obviously at this point in camp, there's just a level of physicality that naturally happens," began Scott when he finally made his way to the lectern after their impromptu meeting had concluded.

"We haven't seen a different color in a long, long time. The pads have been on. It's hot and everything like that, so that's part of the game. You want it, but at the same time, there's an aspect of protecting the team and, guys that you're going to need on Sunday for sure."

Training camp practice has been physical for weeks now, as Canales and staff push their guys to find an edge heading into the season, while also learning how to toe the line and never cross it in such a way that would harm a teammate or put the team at a disadvantage in a game. The opportunity to address said line has arisen in camp several times now.

Monday, a sticky day and a second padded practice in a row for the Panthers, meant tensions rose once again. This fracas, though, did hit a new peak and therefore, needed a little more post-practice resolution.

"Fantastic practice, physical, competitive, passionate, all that stuff. The better each group, each side of the ball gets, the more it challenges each other to find those wins in the margins, and it takes it to another level," remarked Canales.

"We had a little bit of a scuffle out there, and the response afterwards was more physicality, and, that's exactly where we should be. We got to play on that tiptoe, that line, wearing pads. We got to play football. That's the bottom line.

"But there's some situations where we can be smarter and take care of each other. So, I think that's what the frustration ultimately was about. I'm all for it and I talked to the defensive guys, like don't back off on that. Let's just see where our wideouts, receivers, etc., where they're at in those situations. If they can't see you, thud them up and hold them up, if they can see you, I want it to be like football other than just we're not going to the legs and all that. So, some teachable moments on both sides, really."

To Scott's original point, Monday's moment was not due to a single play or tackle. It occurred after Jackson laid a hard hit on running back Jonathon Brooks. Young took exception, not because of that hit in particular, but a string of hits he felt had been too hard. The quarterback got in Jacksons' face, who responded, and center Luke Fortner then jumped in to defend his quarterback. Emotions broiled from there.

Canales' message is always "come back to us," so Young and Jackson knew they needed to have a post-practice parley, and Scott, an outspoken leader on defense who has become a little bit of the locker room psychologist, helped facilitate.

"Some of that stuff just naturally happens," explained Scott of how it was arranged. "Some of the leaders on either side of the ball get together and talk about the things that need to be talked about. That's not the only time we've done something like that.

"We take pride in this being a player-led team so we're just making sure that there's constant communication across both sides of the ball, so we're coming out here and being as competitive and efficient as possible."

The gist of the discussion was simple; to prepare for the game, you have to practice with the same level of physicality. But, there also has to be an inherent respect when facing a teammate.

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"I was just talking with Bryce about kind of how I determine whether or not I'm really going to take a shot on somebody or not," shared Scott. "Void of a defenseless receiver, if I feel like I have an opportunity to really lay into somebody and I would do it in a game, I'm going to do it here in practice with the exception of wrapping up and bringing them down.

"If it's a situation where, it's a leverage tackle or something like that and it's going to be more of a wrap and roll ordeal, I'm probably just going to err on a tag off. But anytime we get square to square, face to face, that's got to be a thud and everybody understands that.

"This team is a really physical team. I take a lot of pride in that. I'm not overly worried about the direction that practice is headed. We just got to make sure that we keep doing what we're doing and checking in and making sure that we're keeping guys as safe as possible.

In a few days, the Panthers will face the Bills in a preseason game, in which starters will play. Just a couple of weeks after that, Carolina will be preparing for the season opener against the Chicago Bears. This is the time of year the level of physicality needed to make it through a season, and win, is reached.

It's also the time of year the bonds of a team are forged, relationships are made, and understanding is created, the kind that will carry a roster through a long season.

Both of those areas were fortified on Monday. For the Panthers, that means it was a good day.

"If practice was all kumbaya all day, I'd be a little worried," joked Scott. "But it's not because we're coming out, we're trying to do something that hasn't been done here in a long time, and when the stakes are as high as that, the blood pressure raises, and if you can simulate camp in that series as it does play in and play out for guys that are going to be out there like that, that's the best case scenario.

"You'd rather have guys talking about, 'Hey, was that too much,' rather than we got to turn it up a notch. This is the least of our worries. We're having a lot of fun. Guys are progressing. We're getting physical and we're right where we want to be."

Luke Fortner has a protective streak

As a sidebar to the altercations on the field, one of the things that has stood out has been center Fortner's willingness to jump into a pile for his quarterback.

Fortner has been involved in a couple of those through camp, and Canales said that while the free agent addition is quite away from the field, an instinct to protect emerges on the field.

"He's a veteran, and I'm sensing and getting to know Luke; he's got a real justice streak about him, and he just wants things to be the right way," Canales said. "So watching that emerge, it's a cool thing, loyalty to his teammates and all that.

"And so I love the fact that he wants to make sure he's in there and guys aren't just standing there, getting whatever type of verbal or physical altercations, making sure he gets in there to be a part of it."

Jaelan Phillips keeps the standard high for defense

Outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips is here because he's great at rushing the passer, but Canales said that the way he practices each day is important for the rest of the group as well.

They knew that would be the case, based on what associate head coach Darrell Bevell experienced when he was with Phillips with the Dolphins.

"It's just his effort," Canales said. "These are things that I heard about him coming out of Miami — people, Darrell Bevell was with him in Miami talking about the tireless way that he practiced, the way that he trains to take care of his body, professionalism, what a great human he is, all those things.

"It's real, and that's who he is every day, and he sets the bar. I love when our top guys set the bar for effort and strength. Because then everybody else has no excuse. Like this is how we do things, and so he's living up to and setting that standard, upholding it, and I'm really proud, really glad that he's here."

Tracy Smith learning a lot of new names in camp

The special teams of an NFL team during training camp can be a bit of a revolving door. As players are cut, waived, signed, and moved around, the special units are guaranteed to go through almost a daily shuffle.

That means special teams coordinator Tracy Smith is tasked with learning a lot of new names, all of the time. Having a player (and his brother) reveal during the offseason that people have been pronouncing their last name wrong for years and it needs to be updated could add an entirely new layer of complexity to the task.

But instead of learning the new way to pronounce Trevor Etienne's last name, Smith just focuses on first names…then again, in the special teams room, that comes with its own set of problems.

"I'm a first name only guy in our meetings, so that is not the battle I fight with him," joked Smith on Monday. "The battle I fight with him is Trevin, Trevis, and Trevor are all in the same meeting on the same teams, so that is not the easiest one to get done."

That would be Trevin Wallace, Trevis Gipson, and Etienne, who may be getting nicknames from Smith soon. He's lucky Tre'von Moehrig isn't much of a part of his world, or it would be worse.

But the coach is also receiving a whole slew of names every day in practice, as he conducts open calls for returners. That's standard this time of year, when they see if anyone wants to do it, the most important factor to the position according to Smith, and evaluate who might have the best hands.

"We're all in on looking for everybody," Smith said. "I walked off the field yesterday saying if anybody has returner dreams, come out here because we're one shorter than we were last week just with transactions. We'll give everybody who's on the roster a shot at all of the special teams jobs, right up until that's not an option anymore.

"So Jimmy Horn Jr. returned, John Metchie III returned, Ja'seem Reed returned in the last game, Anthony Tyus III returned, Miles Davis has been out there all our kickoff days, and then some of the guys from last year too. Xavier Legette still returns a little bit. Jonathan Brooks has shown promise as well, so all, all types of guys."

Canales joked Brooks, who has become a huge part of this offense, would have to beg to get on the return squad. Another name that won't be out there, despite trying to convince Smith he could do it?

Jaycee Horn.

"Jaycee was, right away like, I'm the best punt catcher on the team kind of thing. It's like, OK, you want to return it? 'No thank you.'  So there's always a little bit; it's hard to challenge these guys- something that they'll say that they can't do."

As long as he has the name in mind by Week 1.