CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Before the Carolina Panthers’ final preseason practice, Dave Canales reminded his team that for many of his starters, Tuesday represented their last opportunity to get after it in a full-pads environment.
In retrospect, Canales conceded he might have pushed his players too hard.
“It got heated toward the end. There were some unbelievably physical plays, some hard runs. Safeties showing up. Some great rushes. And they just were in a competitive moment. Tempers flared,” Canales said. “We try to push the guys to the edge. We went a little bit over. But at the same time, that’s the edginess we need to play with.”
Emotions boiled over during the final team period featuring the first-team offense against the starting defense. Canales liked the competition so much that he extended the drill past its scheduled time, which also might have led to the chippiness.
When safety Nick Scott knocked wideout Jalen Coker (who didn’t have the ball) to the ground, players from both sides started yelling and pushing. After left tackle Ikem Ekwonu shoved Jaycee Horn, the cornerback threw a punch at Ekwonu.
Jalen Coker on the edginess and fights at today’s practice: pic.twitter.com/q8yAZt0Xti
— Joe Person (@josephperson) August 19, 2025
After practice ended with the defense keeping the Bryce Young-led offense out of the end zone, some players were still agitated. Horn and Ekwonu continued to bark at each other as they were leaving. Meanwhile, Coker and running back Chuba Hubbard approached Scott while center Austin Corbett tried to separate them and get players off the field.
“They kept talking. Chuba came up at the end,” Canales said. “It’s like, ‘Guys, we’re all family. It’s gonna get heated sometimes. But we’ve gotta move forward together.’”
Coker declined to discuss Scott’s hit and his reaction to it, but said practice should be harder than a game. “And players are gonna (get mad), tempers are gonna fly,” he said. “So it is what it is.”
Outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum said the final ones-vs.-ones session that was scheduled for eight plays wound up going 15 or 16.
“That last period was a lot of work for us. Maybe guys were tired. But one thing I noticed was that competitive nature’s starting to come out. Something we love and — even my coach said it — that’s something we need,” Wonnum said. “Going back and forth with each other, pushing each other, is gonna keep making us better.”
Save from someone breaking his hand on a helmet, it can’t hurt. After all, this is a team that was embarrassed in its first two preseason games while getting outscored 50-13.
The training camp fight between Cam Newton and Josh Norman in 2015 helped galvanize a team that won its first 14 games on the way to a Super Bowl appearance and a MVP award for Newton. No one is suggesting the current Panthers are on the verge of a similar run.
But for a franchise that’s been pushed around for most of the past seven seasons, it’s good to see some guys finally pushing back.
A few other takeaways from the final preseason fisticuffs — errrr, practice:
Another pre-snap penalty leads to punitive running
When the Panthers’ offense bogged down amid several penalty flags in the middle of last week’s practice at Houston, Canales suggested there could be playing time consequences for “repeat offenders.”
But when the offense was flagged for a pre-snap penalty Tuesday, it was a couple of offensive leaders — not Canales — who reacted. Offensive players lined up for a gasser — a sprint across the field and back. Canales said someone told him it was Young and Hubbard who suggested it.
“I’m not a big fan of the gassers. I believe we practice hard enough, (so) we don’t need to do that kind of stuff and try to add more volume to the high intensities I’m expecting in all phases,” Canales said. “But for the guys, it means something to them. And that was their way of trying to address it today.”
The genuine article
Canales doesn’t mind players who yell and talk trash if that’s their true personalities, such as Hubbard and Horn. Then there’s safety Tre’von Moehrig, who laid out a Texans receiver with a big (but clean) hit last week and essentially shrugged when asked about it afterward. That play was a microcosm of Moehrig’s camp.
“Tre Moehrig hasn’t said anything. But I hear him every play because he’s smacking somebody,” Canales said. “It’s a receiver trying to block him. It’s a running back in the hole. But that’s just the way he does it. We have other guys with bigger personalities. And if that’s how they are all the time, I want them to be like that on the field as well.”
The Panthers signed Moehrig to a three-year, $51 million contract in March because of his ability to offer run support in the box but also make plays in the back end. The latter was on display Tuesday when he picked off a Young pass that was tipped by cornerback Mike Jackson.
Extra points
• After missing Saturday’s exhibition in Houston with a fever/infection, Coker will play Thursday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Canales wants the second-year wideout to get a chance to work on his conditioning.
Coker, the undrafted free agent from Holy Cross, turned in one of the offensive highlights Tuesday — pulling in a touchdown pass from Young on an out route. “The nickel buzzed out. The corner went over the top,” Coker said. “So I was able to take advantage of that free access space back there and Bryce put it on the money.”
• Canales provided updates on a couple of important offensive players. He said tight end Tommy Tremble, who has yet to practice following offseason back surgery, has a chance to be ready for Week 1 against Jacksonville.
“He’s running full speed. He’s looking toward just trying to get more physical contact and get that part before we can fully clear him,” Canales said. “He’s on track. He’s had no setbacks, so we’re excited to get Tommy back on the field doing something real soon.”
Left guard Damien Lewis, who injured his shoulder during the Aug. 6 practice with the Cleveland Browns, also is making progress. But Canales stopped short of saying Lewis would play against the Jaguars, adding: “This is a progression just like anything else. So we’ll have to go week to week still.”
(Photo of Dave Canales: Tim Warner / Getty Images)
