The Carolina Panthers front office is busy throughout the season with transactions, roster moves, and injury updates. Here’s what’s happening at Mint Street this week.
Injuries
As the Panthers prepare to kick off the 2026 season, the team had a pretty light injury report as of the latest update from Thursday’s practice.
Running back Jonathon Brooks has been limited, outside linebacker Patrick Jones II hasn’t practiced this week, and defensive tackle Bobby Brown III was a full participant yesterday.
As far as
the injured reserve list goes, there’s more damage there. Right tackle Taylor Moton will need to miss at least the first four games due to a blood clot in his lungs. Fellow offensive lineman Brady Christensen will also miss at least the first four games with a hamstring issue. Running back and return specialist Trevor Etienne is also out to begin the year but designated to return.
Regarding season-ending injuries, second-year defensive end Nic Scourton will miss the year with an ACL injury. He was coming off a promising rookie season last year and was poised for a breakout campaign, so this one really hurts. Rookie wide receiver Chris Brazzell will miss the entire season with a knee injury, putting a damper on the third-rounder’s first season.
Transactions
September is usually a fairly quiet period when it comes to transactions, and that’s the case this year with the Panthers. This month there have been a handful of moves impacting the practice squad, and here are the more noteworthy ones:
Signed Tyrel Dodson to the practice squad
Wow. While most practice squad signings are inconsequential, this one could be a big deal. Tyrel Dodson has appeared in 92 career games with 43 starts. He spent 2019 on the Buffalo Bills practice squad but didn’t appear in any games. Over the next two seasons he cracked the rotation and played a lot of special teams.
In 2023 he had a breakout season starting 10 of 17 games with 74 tackles and 2.5 sacks.
In 2024 he signed with the Seattle Seahawks and started all nine games in which he appeared with a team-leading 71 tackles and two sacks before getting released. One article called the release “shocking and unforeseen.” Dodson quickly signed with the Miami Dolphins where he started three of eight games with 36 more tackles, giving him 107 on the season.
He remained in Miami last year and started all 16 games in which he appeared with an impressive 129 tackles and five sacks. He returned to Miami this year but was released during final roster cuts after second round rookie Jacob Rodriguez from Texas Tech won the starting job.
In summary, Tyrel Dodson is a 28-year-old middle linebacker with 310 tackles and 9.5 sacks over the last three seasons. He has no injury history. While he was suspended for six games during his 2019 rookie season for domestic violence, there are no recent red flags surrounding him.
It’s quite shocking Dodson didn’t land on a 53-man roster somewhere, and it’s a luxury for the Panthers to have him on the practice squad.
Signed guard Chandler Zavala to the practice squad
Chandler Zavala was a Panthers fourth-round pick in 2023. Over the course of three seasons he has appeared in 34 games for Carolina with 14 starts, but his play has been shaky when given the opportunity. The Panthers waived him on August 31st as part of roster cutdowns, then signed him to the practice squad the following day.
Signed outside linebacker Jeremiah Moon to the practice squad
Jeremiah Moon will be a familiar name to some Panthers fans as he briefly orbited the franchise last year. He spent 2023 with the Baltimore Ravens and in eight games he produced 12 tackles with two forced fumbles. In 2024 he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and over 13 games with nine tackles.
Last year he signed with the Panthers practice squad, got elevated to the 53-man roster, and appeared in one game with no stats. But when Carolina moved him back to the practice squad, the Steelers swooped in and claimed him for their active roster, and he appeared in two games for them last year with two tackles.
This seems like a smart move for the Panthers to bring back a 28-year-old vet with at least some familiarity with the franchise.
