Availability of Tetairoa McMillan will be a top storyline to watch as the Panthers get set to open mandatory minicamp
Carolina Panthers second-year wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan was sidelined during the two weeks of organized team activities and his potential availability this week will be something to monitor.
The Carolina Panthers will kick off the first of three mandatory minicamp practice sessions later on Tuesday and after that, the team will have a long break off before returning for training camp in late July.
This week will still be non-contact and non-padded practice sessions, similar to OTAs. The only difference being that players are required to attended mandatory minicamp.
Fortunately, the Panthers are expected to have to deal with any hold outs or hold ins with any players on the roster. The thing to watch instead is the availability of injured players, which includes top pass catcher Tetairoa McMillan.
Will we see Tetairoa McMillan back in action this week for the Carolina Panthers?
McMillan missed both weeks of OTAs due to a injury that head coach Dave Canales made sure to downgrade to ease some concerns from the fans.
“He had some foot soreness,” Canales stated during the first week of OTAs. “It wasn’t anything alarming. But again, at this point, we don’t want things to kind of build up and turn into some type of nagging, chronic type of deal.”
Canales added that McMillan is expected to be back in the “next week or two” and that was on March 26. So, one should assume that McMillan will be back out there later today and building that connection even more with quarterback Bryce Young. If not, it’ll certainly be something to monitor throughout the rest of the week.
If McMillan continues to be sidelined, it would open up more opportunities for Jalen Coker, Chris Brazzell II, and Xavier Legette to work with the first-team offense.
Other injury updates to watch
During the open media session last week, the Panthers sat a few notable players out of practice (or a portion of practice) including right guard Rob Hunt, running back Jonathon Brooks (sat out of team drills), outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips, and outside linebacker Pat Jones II.
“Even in this time of year, it’s a lot of movement, it’s a lot of speed out there,” Canales said. “We just try to be smart with certain guys and make sure that the rhythm’s right.”
Considering this is the last week before a big rest period, one should expect most of the roster to be out there during the three days of practice this week. The one player not expected to be out there is defensive tackle Turk Wharton, who’s currently out indefinitely after undergoing neck surgery in early May.