Carolina Panthers activate Pro Bowl offensive lineman just in time for playoffs
The Carolina Panthers are getting their Pro Bowl offensive lineman back just in time.
The team announced Friday afternoon that Robert Hunt, who has been on the injured reserve since Week 2 with a significant biceps injury that required surgery, has been added to the team’s active 53-man roster. The news arrived approximately 24 hours before the Panthers’ first home playoff game in a decade.
Hunt is expected to play Saturday, according to the team. He ended the practice week Thursday with the game status of “questionable,” officially, but the writing was on the wall that Hunt would be ready for the Panthers’ playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in Bank of America Stadium.
Head coach Dave Canales, after all, said as much after practice Thursday.
“Status is questionable, but he had a great day,” Canales said of Hunt, who’d just completed a week of practice as a full participant. “He had another fantastic day. He was out there with his guys. I’m very optimistic about Rob playing, and I can’t put anything official out there, of course, until we come up with the final roster and that stuff. But he looked great.”
Who will Robert Hunt replace on Panthers offensive line?
Canales clarified, too, that if Hunt was to play he’d start, which means that the 2024 Pro Bowler will replace Austin Corbett at the position. Corbett has started 11 of the 12 games he’s played in this season; he has started at center five times, right guard five times and left guard once.
“Austin will be ready to play — pop in there in the interior,” Canales said of Corbett’s role Saturday. “That’s the great part about Austin, he’s given us the ability to play center, play guard, and different spots.”
Hunt was just as optimistic as his coach when discussing the prospects of playing his first game since September, too.
“My elbow is not going to be perfect,” Hunt said earlier this week. “But I think I can compete with it, for sure.”
How long has Robert Hunt been on IR?
Hunt has been practicing with the Panthers since Dec. 24, for a little over two weeks. If he wasn’t activated before his 21-day practice window closed — which would come in the middle of next week — then he would miss the rest of this season. Of course, if not activated this week, he could’ve missed the season anyway courtesy of the fact that the Panthers are in the playoffs and must win Saturday to advance.
Prior to his practicing in late December, though, Hunt has been in the building, in team meetings, contributing off the field.
How has that prepared him for this moment?
“It kept me hungry,” Hunt said. “I’m excited for what’s about to happen Saturday. That’s what I wanted to be a part of. I was a part of it because I’m in the building, I’m on the team, but obviously I wasn’t playing.”
He then flashed a trademarked sense of humor: “I said this already: ‘I’m like the kid with the good grade, but I didn’t do (anything).”
Chandler Zavala stays on the injured reserve
There was no corresponding move necessary after the roster addition. That’s because the Panthers operated this week with 52 players on the active roster — one below the limit — thanks to some transactions earlier in the week.
Those moves included adding wide receiver David Moore to the roster from IR and releasing two players: veteran wide receiver Hunter Renfrow and second-year safety Demani Richardson.
There was also the possibility of the Panthers activating interior offensive lineman Chandler Zavala ahead of Saturday’s game. Zavala is working back from a calf injury that kept him on the injured reserve down the stretch of this season. But the team opted not to activate him, and Zavala remains on IR.
This story was originally published January 9, 2026 at 4:17 PM.
