Carolina Panthers injury updates: It’s all good news, including a major step for Greg Olsen

It was an encouraging day for Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen, who spent Wednesday’s practice sprinting on the sidelines with trainers.

Olsen has spent the past month rehabilitating his fractured right foot, which occurred during Carolina’s Week 1 win over the Dallas Cowboys. Olsen missed eight weeks during the 2017 season with a Jones fracture in that same foot, and struggled last season even after he returned. He re-fractured the foot before halftime of season opener against Dallas.

But unlike last season, when Olsen was placed on injured reserve and returned after eight weeks, the team instead opted to keep Olsen on the active roster. With other injuries to the team’s starting tackles, Daryl Williams and Matt Kalil, as well as starting safety Da’Norris Searcy, the hope was that Olsen could return more quickly, even though he and the team jointly decided he wouldn’t have surgery on the foot.

Monday was the most positive indication since the injury.

“He’s also running routes, as well. That was good to see,” coach Ron Rivera said Wednesday. “We had (backup quarterback) Connor Cook throwing routes to him, and he looked good. He really did moving around.

“They also had him hitting the sled, so we’ll see how he responds tomorrow morning and hopefully it’ll be good.”

Even with that progress, Rivera said the intent isn’t for Olsen to play this week. Instead, rookie Ian Thomas and Chris Manhertz will continue handling the bulk of the tight end duties.

“We’re most certainly looking not this week,” Rivera said. “We’ll see how it is again at the end of the week with this amount of work we’re putting him under, but yeah, most certainly we’re looking for the future. Nothing for now.”

Olsen wasn’t the only positive injury news for Carolina on Wednesday.

Receivers Curtis Samuel (medical illness) and Damiere Byrd (knee), as well as guard Trai Turner (concussion protocol), all participated fully in practice. Samuel hasn’t played yet this regular season, and Byrd and Turner both missed the last two games against Atlanta and Cincinnati.

Defensive tackle Vernon Butler (shoulder) also was a full participant in practice. Defensive end Julius Peppers had a vet day.