It’s been a long road back for Pat Jones, who celebrated with a sack in his first game

“Great for Pat Jones to get back out there; he had a long offseason rehabbing, and for him to be back playing football under the lights to get a sack was such a cool moment,” Panthers head coach Dave Canales noted. “You could see his excitement when he popped up and just a great step in the right direction as we continue to ramp Pat up for the season.”

Canales also mentioned Jones’ ability to rush from inside on passing downs, allowing them to use him, Jaelan Phillips, and Umanmielen on the field together.

“That’s very important, man,” defensive tackle Derrick Brown said. “Just to get to the point where we have that rotation, be able to have guys that can get back there constantly and frequently. That’s what we want.

“Excited to have the group and get pressure on the quarterback and, man, now we got our edges back.”

The Panthers had just 30.0 sacks last season, and only two teams in the league had fewer. But the hope was that adding a premium free agent in Phillips to the group would benefit everyone. That’s been the case in practice and the preseason, with Umanmielen getting more involved this year. So while they’ll miss Scourton (who tied with Brown for the team lead with 5.0 last year), the group is deeper.

Phillips didn’t play Friday after getting his elbow checked following Wednesday’s joint practice, but said he’d have “absolutely” played in a regular season game.

And with his own background overcoming adversity, he had a special appreciation for what he saw.