The Carolina Panthers can’t seem to catch a break this preseason. Just days after announcing starting right tackle Taylor Moton would be sidelined for an extended stretch, the team got hit with more bad news on Thursday.
Pass rusher Nic Scourton, who tied for the team lead in sacks as a rookie last year, reportedly tore his ACL. It’s a brutal blow for a defense that was counting on him to take another step forward.
Scourton was Carolina’s second-round pick (51st overall) back in 2025. He didn’t just flash potential last season – he started producing right away, finishing with five sacks, 27 tackles (seven of those for a loss), a forced fumble and a pass breakup. The Panthers had him lined up as a key piece for 2025, playing opposite free-agent addition Jaelan Phillips.
Before word got out about the ACL, head coach Dave Canales had actually been talking about how the locker room rallied around Scourton after the injury happened.
Carolina’s pass rush just got a lot thinner
Scourton wasn’t just a rotational piece by the end of last year. From Week 9 on, he was playing nearly three-quarters of Carolina’s defensive snaps. The coaching staff expected him to build on that this season – he won’t even turn 22 until August, so there was still plenty of room for growth.
This is a massive hole to fill.
Pat Jones, who dealt with a back injury for part of last season, is probably the first name up to replace Scourton in the rotation. Beyond him, the Panthers have 2025 third-round pick Princely Umanmielen along with Trevis Gipson and Thomas Incoom – though both of the latter two were mostly special-teamers a year ago, not every-down players.
Phillips is still expected to lead Carolina’s pass rush. But without a legitimate threat lined up opposite him, opposing offensive lines can start sliding protection his way. And Phillips isn’t exactly known for staying healthy – his injury history goes back to college, and it’s already cost him significant chunks of both the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Injuries are piling up fast for Carolina
The Moton news alone was tough to swallow. He’s dealing with a pulmonary embolism, and that came right as the Panthers were already trying to figure out life without left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, who tore his patellar tendon back in January and could miss a big chunk of the regular season.
Moton’s expected to miss at least the start of the year, possibly more, and he’s been placed on the reserve/non-football injury list as a result.
That likely means the Panthers open the season with free-agent signing Rasheed Walker at left tackle and 2026 first-rounder Monroe Freeling on the right side. Walker spent three years starting at left tackle for the Green Bay Packers, so he brings experience. Freeling’s a different story – he only started parts of two seasons at Georgia, and he could get tested early by opposing pass rushers.
It doesn’t stop at the offensive line, either. Both starting defensive tackles – Tershawn Wharton (recovering from neck surgery) and Bobby Brown III (hamstring) – landed on the non-football injury list too. Starting cornerback Jaycee Horn is also on that list with a foot issue, though that one isn’t considered serious or long-term.
For a team that just won the NFC South and made real moves this offseason to build on that momentum, this is a rough stretch. The Panthers were trying to push forward. Instead, they’re dealing with setback after setback before the season’s even started.