Carolina Panthers' cornerback Bené Benwikere felt he could have gone full-go during OTAs and minicamp if he were allowed. Six weeks later, the team is still being cautious with its incumbent No. 1 corner.

Benwikere, who in mid-December broke his left leg just above his ankle, will start training camp on the physically unable to perform list. During the preseason, a player can be taken off PUP at any time. As of Wednesday, the Panthers aren't sure when that'll be.

"I think the thing that everybody needs to understand is that what he did was very traumatic to that ankle and it takes a matter of time," coach Ron Rivera said. "Rather than exposing him to the work that's out there, we're going to continue to expose him to the rehab program and make sure he's 100 percent before we throw him out there."

The Panthers have only one other notable injury heading into camp, but that's also in the secondary. Fifth-year veteran Leonard Johnson, who was signed two weeks ago to compete at nickel, is coming off Achilles surgery. Because he wasn't under contract when he had the procedure, Johnson is on the Non-Football Injury list, which is similar to PUP.

Early in camp, at least, Benwikere and Johnson will work on the side with trainers. That means the Panthers' inexperienced group of corners will continue to get plenty of work, just like in OTAs and minicamp.

"Short-term, the young kids are going to get the reps," general manager Dave Gettleman said. "One of the reasons we've had a number of young guys play is we really focus on making sure they get reps. Even if Bené was [healthy], they're going to get their reps. It's going to be good for them."

But what's good for James Bradberry, Daryl Worley, Zack Sanchez and Lou Young isn't great for Benwikere, who hasn't been full-go for seven and a half months and counting.

"We're trying to make sure we prevent a setback," Rivera said. "We don't want to just throw him out there because remember — he didn't get an opportunity to do this stuff in the offseason in OTAs and minicamp."

The rest of Wednesday's health updates fell into the 'as expected' category. Linebacker Luke Kuechly and receivers Kelvin Benjamin were given the "all clear," according to Rivera, who reminded that doesn't mean the shackles are completely off.

"We're not just going to throw guys out there just because they've been given the all-go," he said. "You don't want to throw guys out there that haven't been on the field and all of a sudden they're going from 25 miles-per-hour to 100 miles-an-hour."

But at least Kuechly, Benjamin and 86 other Panthers will be on the field for some portion of Thursday night's first training camp practice. That's more than Benwikere will be allowed to do until who knows how long.

"I don't want to say, 'Oh, he'll be back in a week,'" Rivera said, before later adding, "Hopefully, it's just a week or 10 days or something."

So just like this spring, the kids will roam the secondary. Only this time, the baptism by fire will include Benjamin.

"You can't get better watching," Gettleman said. "You've gotta be in-between the white lines, so for us, we're not blinking."