Heat, injuries make Wednesday’s Carolina Panthers practice a tough one

Injuries and illness in the Carolina Panthers receiving corps made Wednesday an especially hard practice.

Veteran receiver Jerricho Cotchery (ankle) was not at practice as he continues to look toward a return after the bye in Week 5. And second-year receiver Philly Brown (illness) stayed away, too.

The Panthers were forced to use younger cornerbacks for routes at receiver in the scout team drills.

And throw in the fact that the sun came out just as the players walked to practice. At 1 p.m. it was 84 degrees in Charlotte but felt like 87.

“It was tough because we were down a wide receiver and with Jerricho out too it was hard on those guys,” Panthers coach Ron Rivera said. “(The heat) made the last 15 minutes of practice tough on everybody. Today was a grind.”

Veteran linebacker Thomas Davis was limited with a pectoral injury. He did individual drills but did not do positional drills during the portion of practice open to the media.

Rivera did not share more than Davis’ limited participation when asked.

Along with Luke Kuechly (concussion), Cotchery and Brown missing practice, four other Panthers did not participate. Offensive tackle Daryl Williams (knee), running back Jonathan Stewart (tibia), defensive tackle Dwan Edwards (not injury related) and fullback Mike Tolbert (groin) did not practice.

This story was originally published September 30, 2015 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Heat, injuries make Wednesday’s Carolina Panthers practice a tough one."