--This week's practices have a different name than the sessions the Panthers completed the past three weeks, but they're pretty much an extension of OTAs.
"It's 12 practices [in total]," Carolina coach Ron Rivera said. "We're not treating this as a minicamp that's real special. The only thing special about the minicamp is that we had physicals on Monday and these three practices are mandatory."
--Only one player was missing. WR Devin Funchess stayed home sick.
--Rivera admitted "it was a little scary" when WR Brenton Bersin went down after coming out of a break midway through practice. With trainers and LB Luke Kuechly at his side, Bersin stayed down for about two minutes. He eventually limped off with what Rivera said was an ankle injury. Rivera didn't know if it's bad enough to keep Bersin out of practice on Wednesday and Thursday.
--LT David Foucault is out all three days with a sore calf. He had spent most of this offseason as Michael Oher's backup.
--OT Donald Hawkins began practice behind Oher, but Hawkins was eventually carted off. Like last Tuesday, the former Texas Longhorn had a problem with the heat.
"It's too bad. He was practicing very well," said Rivera of Hawkins, who's on his sixth team since 2014. "Hopefully we can get him to the point where he can get used to this, coming from Texas where it's a dry heat. I think he just has to condition himself and get used to it."
--Coaches want to get a look at different rotations this week, and with two tackles down, there was plenty of shuffling on the offensive line. RT Mike Remmers spent most of the second half of practice on the left side while Daryl Williams slide into Remmers' spot.
The Panthers told Remmers he'd begin this spring as a starter despite his struggles in the Super Bowl, and if you want to hear how much rope he currently has, this should give you a good idea:
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--The day's best catch belonged to seventh-round TE Beau Sandland, who used one hand to reel in a dart from QB Derek Anderson just inside the pylon.
--The day's biggest play belonged to WR Damiere Byrd, who blew past second-round pick James Bradberry to haul in a 50-yard bomb from QB Cam Newton.
When asked what happened, Bradberry explained:
"They had two receivers in the game — there was one on my side and one on the other. I have to know it's two fast guys in, so they're trying to go deep. I shouldn't have broke on the double move."
--One of the day's lighter moments happened after RB Fozzy Whittaker sprinted past LB Ben Jacobs. Anderson slightly overthrew Whittaker, but a heckler felt it could have been caught. Newton hit the ground and with arms extended yelled: "You've gotta dive for that Foz!"
--The defense and S Trenton Robinson thought they had an interception on an errant pass from QB Joe Webb to Sandland. But as S Tre Boston screamed for Robinson to keep running, TE Greg Olsen overruled the play from the sideline:
"Go have a parade for a pass breakup."