In/Out

• DE Charles Johnson (calf), OL Amini Silatolu (calf), CB Lou Young (hamstring) and OT Davonte Wallace (concussion) all missed another practice and won’t travel to Buffalo.

• DT Kawann Short (back) did not participate in team drills, and the Panthers could hold him out of Friday’s preseason opener. The team is also considering playing it safe with CB Bené Benwikere (hamstring), but he has a better chance to play than Short.

• Getting a veteran’s day off: FB Mike Tolbert, C Ryan Kalil, LB Thomas Davis and S Roman Harper.

Top Plays

We usually pick three top plays per practice, but since Wednesday was a glorified walk-through, one will do:

As we’ve seen a handful of times in camp already, Cam Newton’s connection with Ted Ginn has remained strong despite the year apart. Yes, the play above was Newton to Ginn on a fly route past Josh Norman. Ginn even celebrated by spinning the ball near Norman. But after the (mostly overblown) drama about yapping this week, it’s important to point out that this moment was not mean-spirited.

MVP

WR Jarrett Boykin: Like the plays of the day, let’s condense the daily offensive and defensive MVPs into one. Boykin bounced back from a rough Tuesday, when he had at least two drops, with a sure-handed Wednesday. Now we’ll see if the former Packer can gain ground in the receiver roster battle on Friday.

Other Observations

• When asked how much Newton will play Friday, Rivera said:

“We’ll take him into the first quarter, and we’ll evaluate it and go from there. Pretty much, he’s going to play in the first quarter. He’ll play predominantly when No. 1’s are in. We’ll attach him with a couple of the other guys, so when he goes out, they’ll go out.”

In other words, expect the first-time offense to play one-to-three series.

• With Newton healthy, many assumed Joe Webb’s roster spot would be expendable. But it sure sounds like the Panthers are planning on keeping him around.

“I do foresee keeping three quarterbacks,” Rivera said. “He’s been an emergency receiver for us, he’s been a backup quarterback, he’s been a special teams guy for us, and this year, we have him doing a lot of special teams drills.

“These very versatile football players are starting to come back and be en vogue again. Part of it has to do with what they’re doing in college. Running backs are playing those wing positions or whatever they call them, and you’re starting to see guys starting to do more than one thing.”

• Former Panthers’ defensive end Mike Rucker was at practice prepping for Friday night’s broadcast. These guys rank third and second on Carolina’s all-time sack list with 118 sacks between them:

Coming Up

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