Game pants are called game pants for a reason. Guys don’t wear them to practice.

But for two and a half months — through training camp and the nine weeks since — Carolina cornerback Leonard Johnson has worn Panthers-issued game pants to work on the side with trainers during every practice.

It’s a strange thing to do when you’re not even eligible to return until this week. Yet no one asked Johnson why he did it. Until Tuesday.

“I don’t want to take them off. I know what it feels like to take those pants off,” he said.

“Every time I put these pants on, it’s a glimpse of me stepping into a game-like situation.”

Johnson’s another step closer to making that vision a reality after practicing for the first time since he signed with the Panthers two weeks before training camp. Coaches knew they’d have to wait on Johnson, who had Achilles surgery in March, but now they think the 5-foot-10, 202-pound nickel back could help fix their struggling secondary.

“He looked kind of what we thought,” coach Ron Rivera said after Tuesday’s practice. “We did some things that played to his strength and we thought he handled them very well.”

Johnson has been on the Non-Football Injury list since the Panthers went to Spartanburg, and the team now has a three-week window to activate him. That means he could return to game action as soon as Carolina returns from its bye to host the Cardinals.

“I can bring a spark,” Johnson said. “We’re just one play away from turning this whole thing around.”

Johnson, who grew up outside Tampa, latched on with the Bucs as an undrafted free agent in 2012. In three seasons, he played in all 48 games, totaling five interceptions, 20 pass breakups, and five forced fumbles.

When Johnson twisted an ankle last preseason, the Bucs put him on injured reserve until they released him in December. He then landed with the Patriots, who used him in their final four regular-season games but not the playoffs.

Johnson, who had been bothered by his Achilles since entering the NFL, finally had it repaired this spring. And like many athletes with foot and ankle issues, he came to Charlotte for Dr. Robert Anderson, who doubles as a Panthers’ team doctor.

“I feel like I’m home,” Johnson said. “That’s the first thing I told my mother after I had my surgery over at OrthoCarolina. ‘It would be great if I could come here’ cause I was pretty much homeless after the surgery.”

Well, “homeless” as far as employment with a team is concerned. Johnson spent the first three months after surgery at home in Tampa. Then, the Panthers called him back to Charlotte for a mid-June workout.

Four months later, he now has a chance to shore up a defense that’s been using Robert McClain and linebacker Shaq Thompson as its primary nickel backs.

That’s no sure thing, of course, especially for a guy coming off Achilles surgery. But it’s at least a little bit of hope, and that’s something the 1-5 Panthers desperately need these days.

“I’m full-bore,” Johnson said. “The doctor told me he doesn’t know I’ve been playing with that the last four years. So if I did it those last four years, I can do it with the problem being fixed.

“It just feels amazing, man.”