Getting some guys back soon

CHARLOTTE — With injuries deciding so many games across the league, the Panthers are in the rare spot of getting healthier in a few spots.

Canales said Monday that the team was opening the practice window for wide receiver Xavier Legette this week, and that cornerbacks Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson and running back Jonathon Brooks were close.

“We’re working on that right now,” Canales said. “It’s getting very exciting with some of the guys that are close, and those are the conversations we’re having today, tomorrow, as we have these days to evaluate them to make sure,” Canales said. “All just like, going through their processes to see when they’re ready to come back. So I’m excited for where they are.”

Legette being the closest adds another receiver with speed to the mix, while getting the starting cornerbacks (and one of the most productive duos in the league) back on the field would be an obvious bump after starting a pair of practice squad players last week.

They’re also entering the second of three weeks of Brady Christensen‘s practice window, though they elected not to activate him last week.

Canales said he was encouraged by what he saw from the offensive line without adding the veteran five-position starter. After allowing 11 sacks in the previous two games, they allowed only three to the Broncos, one of the league’s best-pressuring teams. (And one of those three was the strip-sack fumble that sealed the game.)

“Feeling good about the group that we put out there,” Canales said. “Talking about the offensive line, I thought this was Rasheed Walker‘s best game. I know he got beat on that last play, and it was a sack fumble, and you guys had a chance to talk to Rasheed afterward, and just, like, so he could tell you better than I could explain it. But what I saw on film was a really good performance by Rasheed, and so we felt good about that group. Monroe Freeling, the whole, the guys inside, Celli (guard Torricelli Simpkins III) stepping in, played physical. So you know, that group that went into the game gave me confidence that this was a group that we could win this game with.”