Panthers Open Camp Without Two Cornerstones: Moton and Horn Land on NFI List
Carolina begins training camp with right tackle Taylor Moton sidelined by a blood clot in his lung and cornerback Jaycee Horn nursing a cut foot — one absence far more serious than the other.
NFL training camps are opening across the league this week, and Carolina's is starting with a jolt: the Panthers placed two veteran starters on the reserve/non-football injury list as rookies reported on July 21, according to the team's announcement.
The serious one: Taylor Moton
Right tackle Taylor Moton was diagnosed in late June with a blood clot in his lung, per ESPN. He is on blood thinners and reportedly responding well to treatment, but there is no return timeline, and he is expected to miss regular-season time. Health comes first here — blood clots are a genuinely dangerous condition, and players cannot take contact while on blood-thinning medication.
Football-wise, the loss looms large. Moton has been one of the most durable linemen in the sport and the anchor of Carolina's right side. The contingency plan runs through free-agent addition Rasheed Walker and first-round rookie Monroe Freeling out of Georgia, who now gets a much faster on-ramp than the team intended.
The minor one: Jaycee Horn
Cornerback Jaycee Horn's situation is far less alarming: a cut on his foot suffered while running that required stitches. The team expects him back early in camp. Until then, veteran Mike Jackson headlines the cornerback room alongside a cluster of young players.
The bigger picture
Every July, camp openings deliver a first wave of roster reality checks, and this is Carolina's. A team trying to take a step forward in the NFC South now has to answer its biggest offensive-line question in August instead of January. All 32 teams' veterans report by July 28, so expect more news like this across the league in the coming days — but few teams will open camp with a starter facing anything as serious as Moton's diagnosis.