Replacing Moton won't be easy; but the Panthers are used to chaos up front.
Some thoughts on Moton's absence; plus some advice and a preseason prediction.
It was announced on Tuesday that Carolina Panthers right tackle Taylor Moton is going to miss some time after he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung.
While it stinks to hear about that diagnosis, at least the blood clot was uncovered so he could begin treatment.
Darin Gantt of Panthers.com said Moton was placed on blood thinners immediately and that he has responded well to treatment so far after the diagnosis in late June.
Hopefully Moton will continue to respond well to treatment and have a full recovery.
It sucked to hear that news while driving home on Tuesday afternoon.
There have been plenty of down times over the last decade for the Panthers, but Moton has always been a beacon of professionalism and reliability.
I don’t recall any complaints from Moton during the really bad times and it was awesome to see him be able to get back to the playoffs last season.
Moton has missed four total games in his nine year career. He played in 120 consecutive games, starting 104 until he finally missed a start due to injury in 2024.
The Panthers offensive line was in a state of chaos most of last season, starting 12 different groups. Moton played in 16 of 17 regular season games.
The team knew they would be without left tackle Ikem Ekwonu for some or possibly all of this season after he ruptured his patellar tendon in the playoff loss to the Rams.
Luckily the Panthers invested resources into the position during the offseason with the signing of Rasheed Walker and drafting Monroe Freeling in April.
Replacing Moton won’t be easy. I assume Walker will start out at left tackle with Freeling on the right side.
According to the team, Moton is expected to return during the regular season. While that’s great to hear, who knows when that might happen. Clearly Moton’s longterm health supersedes when he may play football again.
From a football perspective, the offensive line is filled with plenty of veterans to try and help bring Freeling up to speed. Will there be some rough patches? Absolutely, no team or player wins every rep.
While Moton’s absence will be felt, the Panthers have put resources into the group. Additionally, the team had plenty of practice last season on dealing with uncertainty and hopefully that makes Moton’s absence sting a tad less while he recovers.
Notable note, a wonder, advice & a small prediction
The Panthers also announced that starting cornerback Jaycee Horn and rookie reserve Jaylon Guilbeau would start camp on the non-football injury list. Horn suffered a cut on his foot while running and is expected to return during camp.
I’m assuming Dan Morgan will address the media at some point on Wednesday or Thursday as he has done the previous two training camps. Last year, he read from a prepared statement, which I found to be odd and out of character for him. When he addresses the media this year, will he do it again?
It’s awesome that football is back. There’s still 53 days until the season opener at home against the Chicago Bears. Don’t live and die with every training camp video posted to the social media. More importantly, don’t form any opinion on how the season will play out based on a 10 second video clip. Let things play out and just enjoy the fact that football is back.
My preseason pick for player that breaks out this season? Jonathon Brooks is the trendy pick for many, but I’m going to go with second year tight end Mitchell Evans. Hauling in 19 catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns as a fifth round rookie is nothing to sneer at. I think Evans becomes a reliable target for Young this season and will become the first Panthers tight end since Greg Olsen to earn at least 50 targets in a season.