Why the Panthers don’t seem concerned about tight end Ian Thomas’ toe injury
Carolina Panthers tight end Ian Thomas missed his second consecutive practice Thursday with a hyper-extended toe he suffered in a practice Monday.
But Panthers coach Matt Rhule didn’t seem overly concerned about Thomas’ injury.
“I list him as day-to-day,” Rhule said.
That’s good news for the Panthers, who don’t have much experience at tight end behind Thomas and fifth-year veteran Chris Manhertz.
The Panthers are thin at tight end from a pass-catching standpoint; having a healthy Thomas is critical. While Thomas has 56 catches for 469 yards in his first two seasons as a pro, his backups — Manhertz, Temarrick Hemingway, Colin Thompson and Giovanni Ricci — have six catches for 90 yards combined and one touchdown.
And all of those stats were from Manhertz.
When Greg Olsen injured his foot in 2018, the Panthers relied on Thomas, then a rookie, to fill that gap. He played well and two years later, the Panthers decided it was time to cut ties with Olsen and let Thomas take over the reins.
But behind Thomas is where it gets dicey.
Manhertz has primarily been a blocking tight end — a good one at that — and has been crucial to the Panthers’ running game in recent years. Manhertz, a former basketball player who referred to himself Tuesday as a garbage man on the court (someone who did anything it took for his team to win) has a similar style in football. He also plays special teams.
But he hasn’t been utilized much in the passing game. That’s something he’s been working on in training camp. Manhertz was seen staying late after one training camp practice with quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to get in extra work. He ran routes and caught passes from the quarterback.
“I think you’ve heard Teddy say he’s really developing as a pass catcher,” Rhule said. “For a guy who is a basketball player, it should come naturally to him. I think it’s becoming more and more natural to get open and win in space.”
Manhertz has made a few nice catches throughout training camp, but has fallen victim to drops, including one that would have been a touchdown.
As for Hemingway, who missed a few practices with an injury, and Ricci and Thompson, none of them have much experience. Ricci is a rookie.
But Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady said he was confident about the current tight ends on the roster.
“We kind of have the mentality that when guys are injured, we can’t blink and the next man has to step up,” Brady said. “I think the tight ends behind (Thomas) ... they all have different strengths and they all bring something different to the game. I think whenever there’s a guy that’s injured, it’s not necessarily what did that person do that’s injured, and this person has to come in and do that exact same role, it’s more a let’s find out what Temarrick, and Gio and Colin and Manhertz can do and figure it out from there.”
Rhule also said he was excited about the backup tight ends. He described Thompson as having a “great camp,” Hemingway as having a “good camp,” despite the injury, and Ricci as a “promising young player.“ He added that fullback Alex Armah gives the Panthers a lot of flexibility.
But he said he’s always open to looking elsewhere, if needed.
“As a philosophical thing, we will always look at every opportunity,” Rhule said. “As does every other team, really.”
There are few free agents tight ends with pass catching experience, including former Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker, who is 36, and former Buffalo Bills tight end Charles Clay, who is 31.
But for now, it doesn’t appear the Panthers are targeting any outside help. If they were, they would likely pick someone up off waivers, as they’ve done at other positions during training camp.
“I’m very confident with that group,” Rhule said of the tight ends, pushing back against the notion that they may need to look elsewhere. “I think they’ve done a nice job.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 4:06 PM.
