CHARLOTTE — The Panthers only placed one player on the reserve/COVID-19 list Tuesday, but he was a significant one.
Center Sam Tecklenburg was added to the list Tuesday, but they activated safety Sam Franklin Jr. and defensive end Azur Kamara from the list as well. The team also released quarterback Matt Barkley.
That leaves them with 12 players on reserve/COVID-19, 45 players on the 53-man active roster, and two open spots on the practice squad.
Since Tecklenburg was the last true center on the active roster, that complicates things. Matt Paradis was already lost for the year to a knee injury, and Pat Elflein went on the COVID-19 list last week, allowing Tecklenburg to make his first career start against the Buccaneers.
Unless Elflein is activated from the list later this week, and that remains a possibility, the Panthers will have to adjust again. They've already used 11 unique combinations of starting offensive linemen in the first 15 games.
Practice squad lineman Mike Horton can play center, and was elevated to the game-day roster last week. Otherwise, they'll have to add to the roster, and the personnel department has been busy Tuesday looking for replacements.
Kamara was just claimed off waivers from Dallas, but they'll take any help they can get at defensive end, where Brian Burns and Marquis Haynes Sr. were placed on the COVID-19 list Monday.
Barkley was active once in Arizona, but didn't play a snap for the Panthers. He signed here the day before Cam Newton arrived, and once Sam Darnold was activated, they had plenty.
