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For the second straight offseason, Carolina Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart missed most of the significant on-field work at minicamp and summer school. This time the injury – considered mild – involves his left Achilles' tendon. Last season as a rookie he was recovering from toe surgery.
Stewart has been at practice, but mostly just listening to the play calls and watching other running backs take his turn. That has caused some teasing among his teammates.
“They're out there busting their butts and I'm just sitting on the sideline for the second year in a row,” Stewart said. “I've been taking some heat for that.”
He said he didn't need surgery, but was supposed to rest the tendon until training camp, which will begin Aug.2 in Spartanburg. “I'll be ready,” he said.
Missing a large part of the offseason last year didn't seem to affect Stewart dramatically. As a rookie, he rushed for 836 yards and 10 touchdowns and combined with starter DeAngelo Williams (an NFL-high 20 TDs) to form the “Double Trouble” combination.
The two are close friends and attended a pro wrestling event in Charlotte on Monday night. As for expectations: “I don't see why we should lower our expectations from last year,” Stewart said. “I think me and DeAngelo are capable of more.”
Briefly
The Panthers went through a series of sprints to end their final practice of summer school. They would run about 212 yards on each sprint – four times across the field the short way.
All of the players ran some sprints, with cornerback Richard Marshall, linebackers Jon Beason and Thomas Davis, undrafted rookie receiver Jason Chery and Williams among those distinguishing themselves with particularly fast times.
Then some had to run at least one extra sprint, including quarterback Jake Delhomme, punter Jason Baker, receiver Steve Smith and Beason.
Delhomme said strength and conditioning coach Jerry Simmons requires the extra sprints at the end of practice when a player doesn't make it to at least 90percent of his offseason workouts.
“I'd like to say that was just me trying to get better, but that wasn't it at all,” said Delhomme, who huffed his way to a third-place finish in a three-man sprint with Smith and Baker.
Beason would have had to run his extra sprint alone, Delhomme said, but Davis ran alongside him in a show of solidarity with the linebacker.
Coach John Fox reiterated he expects defensive end Julius Peppers – who has skipped every offseason workout – to show up for training camp. Was it awkward not having him around for these drills and to get accustomed to a new position coach and a new defensive coordinator?
“Not to me,” Fox said. “I would always prefer guys to be here. But I've had countless numbers of excellent football players that trained off-site in the offseason. Steve Smith has done that every year, and he's had some pretty good years. So long as guys are working, it doesn't bother me. He (Peppers) has never given us reason to think he's not working, and I don't think he's going to start now.”
