In the dead of night, while most, if not all of us, were asleep, the Panthers came to terms on the rookie contract of Jonathan Stewart. The deal is for five years and worth $10.8 million. The Panthers got the deal done with Jeff Otah on Friday, and to make room on the roster, the Panthers released RB Alex Haynes and LB Brandon Jamison.
Notes from the morning workout:
Stewart worked alongside DeAngelo Williams splitting the carries during the morning workout with the ones. Stewart looked good, showing no signs of the surgically repaired toe that kept him out of mini-camp work in April. He also missed the OTA's, due to his school (Oregon) still being in session, which forced him to skip those workouts. Long story short, he's not in football shape (but trust me, he's not fat), and he's practicing. On time. No hold out. Big positive.Jake Delhomme is bouncing around like a schoolkid. Having missed most of last season with the elbow surgery, he was chomping at the bit to get started this morning. His passes looked good, and Head Coach John Fox mentioned they would keep an eye on him, and the number of throws he'll get. This is nothing new, as they have regulated Jake in camp before, but now they will be keeping a closer watch, simply because he is coming off the surgery. Fox says the team doctors have pronounced him healthy, so he will practice. Don't be surprised, though, if Jake gets a workout or 2 off just to keep him fresh.
The O-Line, revamped, re-tooled, and re-fed, looked good. The Panthers worked Toniu Fonoti at the right guard spot with the ones today. That's not an indication of where he'll begin the season, but "you have to start somewhere on the depth chart," according to Fox. The other OL ones in the morning: Jordan Gross at LT, Travelle Wharton at LG, Ryan Kalil at C, Fonoti at RG, and Otah at the RT position. Lots of pad popping during the 11-on-11 drills, and much of the noise coming from the line of scrimmage. They should be earth movers, if they stay healthy.
Julius Peppers won't be speaking to the media today, but that won't stop us from talking about him. He looked leaner (believe it or not), which will likely lead to people speculating that he has a tapeworm or something. He looked fine in the practice-he's not a rah-rah guy in practice anyway. One highlight from #90--in 1-on-1 drills, he blew Gross back about 3 yards in pursuit of a ghost QB. Hope that is a sign of things to come.
Jason Carter made several tough catches during the practice, and made all the routine ones. I didn't see him drop a pass all practice long.
The Spartanburg weather cooperated with the team. Overcast skies and brief rain showers made the practice bearable.
More as camp progresses, and as always, on Sports Night at 10.
Mike Solarte
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1 comment:
RE: NASCAR's race today, is "competition caution" an oxymoron? Where's the "competition" if GoodYear is the sole source of tires (that don't have rubber on them)?? BTW, your comment thingy doesn't work on Firefox browsers because the word verification doesn't show. Please thump your webmaster.
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