The Panthers are waiting for word on how much time first-round pick Xavier Legette might miss with a lower leg injury, but they have a better idea of when second-round pick Jonathon Brooks might be able to play.
Brooks tore his ACL while playing at Texas last year and the running back remains on the non-football injury list. On Saturday, head coach Dave Canales said that Brooks will not play in the preseason but the team hopes he will be available to play around Week Three or Four of the regular season.
“It’s something we expected,’' Canales said, via David Newton of ESPN.com. “Coming into the spring, we knew just the timeline and progression of where he was at. We knew we would not have him for the preseason. Even if he was kind of ready, there’s a confidence thing that we want to ramp him up little by little so he feels ready to go.”
The Panthers will have to activate Brooks before the cut to 53 players in order for him to be able to play before Week Five, so their decision on that front will be telling about whether things are progressing as hoped.