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Health Watch

• WR Kelvin Benjamin will have surgery on his torn ACL “in a couple weeks,” according to coach Ron Rivera. If there’s any good news, it’s that Benjamin did not tear his MCL as well.

• WR Devin Funchess watched practice with a wrap around the right hamstring he tweaked Wednesday. He won’t play Saturday against Miami, but there’s a good chance he’ll return on Monday.

• DE Charles Johnson and OL Amini Silatolu will each miss their second preseason games with calf injuries.

• OT Nate Chandler felt soreness in his surgically-repaired knee, so he was held out.

• Vet days off: RB Jonathan Stewart, C Ryan Kalil, LB Thomas Davis, S Roman Harper, CB Charles Tillman, DB Colin Jones.

• TE Brandon Williams (groin) is still on pace to come off the pup list Monday.

Top Play

Ted Ginn sprints past the Fins

With practice winding down, Cam Newton opened up the final team drill by firing down the left sideline. He hit a wide open Ted Ginn in full stride, and after the former Dolphin had run into the end zone, he launched the ball into an adjacent field.

Offensive MVP (camp)

Benjamin: When asked, Rivera declined to name a camp MVP because the last two haven’t worked out so well (2013 — Armanti Edwards, 2014 — Frank Alexander). Unfortunately for Rivera and the Panthers, this year’s obvious MVP was in Charlotte during the final practice. Before he tore his ACL Wednesday, Benjamin had a dominant camp. It’s impossible not to wonder what could have been in his second season.

Defensive MVP (camp)

S Kurt Coleman: The free agent pickup is the only guy who wrestled a starting spot away from someone else. Not many saw the possibility that the Panthers would line up Coleman at SS with Roman Harper at FS, but that’s the current setup, with Tre Boston coming off the bench.

Other Observations

• One camp battle that could heat up in Charlotte now is at RT. Mike Remmers continued to take most snaps with the starters, but the Panthers’ fourth-round pick may be tough to keep off the field.

“I thought Daryl Williams really stepped up,” Rivera said. “He realized and recognized he has the ability to play against top line players and he did a nice job.”

• For all the talk about possible fighting heading into these two joint practices, the Panthers and Dolphins appeared to get along remarkably well. The only notable scuffle came Wednesday between Carolina OT Michael Oher and Miami DE Olivier Vernon.

“It was very productive and I’m very pleased with it. We had the good tempo that we were looking for and the intensity level was up. That’s what happens when you bring in another team to scrimmage,” Rivera said.

“One of the things I truly appreciate was the way Coach Philbin, his coaching staff and players handled it. We talked to our players about making sure we took advantage of the opportunity. We didn’t come here to be disruptive and fight; we came here to improve and get better as football teams. I think both teams accomplished that and I think this will go a long way for all of us.”

• Dolphins coach Joe Philbin had nice things to say, as well:

“I love the way they play defense — they play fast and hard. I love (Luke) Kuechly. Part of the reason why we came down here is to see if we could get a hat on Kuechly, see if we could block him in space. I think we’ve had mixed results (laughing). But I think it’s just a well-run football team — their general manager (Dave Gettleman) is a class guy, Ron (Rivera’s) obviously done a great job, they’ve been to the playoffs two years in a row. So I thought it was real positive.”

• When Philbin was asked Wednesday if he felt the field at Wofford led to the day’s two ACL tears, he said no. Rivera, who also saw WR Stephen Hill tear his ACL early in camp, said the same:

“When you watch it on tape, the one I noticed with Kelvin is that he shifted his weight and that’s when that happened. The [injury to Dolphins S Louis Delmas], he was in a back-peddle and when he went to turn and went through his transition is when that happened. I don’t think it had anything to do with the turf, though. I really don’t.”

• The Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce said 77,625 fans watched the Panthers’ 14 practices at Wofford. That number smashes a camp record and is a 58 percent increase from last summer.

“To have this kind of support show up on a daily basis tells the players that you’re doing things and becoming relevant and people appreciate that,” Rivera said.

Coming Up

Panthers/Dolphins Part 3 — Saturday night’s preseason game at Bank of America Stadium.[line][vc_raw_html]

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