Carolina safety Dean Marlowe is listed as doubtful for Thursday night's season opener against the Broncos. The Panthers have been planning to be without Marlowe, who returned to limited practices this week after missing nearly a month with a strained hamstring.
Marlowe and practice squad safety Marcus Ball are both making the trip to Denver. Ball will probably only be activated if Kurt Coleman, Tre Boston or Colin Jones are for some reason not feeling well on Thursday.
The only other Panthers on the injury report – defensive tackle Vernon Butler (dislocated finger) and linebacker A.J. Klein (back) – are questionable.
Under the NFL's former game status report designations, both would have likely been 'probable.' But last month, the league announced it's eliminating that term.
The result: 'Questionable' is now a broad category that encompasses players that have a better than 50 percent chance to play. That's Butler and Klein. And because Marlowe's chances are less than 50 percent, he falls in the 'doubtful' column.