CHARLOTTE—When Jadeveon Clowney was signed to the Carolina Panthers this spring, it was with one primary goal in mind; have him get to and live in the opponent's backfield. On Thursday night, Clowney proved he is still more than capable of doing just that.

"I mean, who's not excited to see Jadeveon Clowney," posed Dave Canales, following the Panthers Fan Fest practice and scrimmage on Thursday night. "Disruptive was the word that I used early on when we got him, and he was ruining things for us a lot today."

Disruptive was right. During the first half of what was a two-half scrimmage for Carolina, Clowney was quick off the block and tearing into the backfield, albeit against an offensive line that was both missing Damien Lewis and monitoring snaps for Taylor Moton. Still, Clowney's presence was felt in multiple sacks (officials stats aren't kept during practices).

"I love seeing the ones versus ones in this type of a setting to see really what we have. And I was pleased with the defensive performance especially early on," Canales said.

Clowney has 52.5 sacks over his 10 seasons, plus 15 forced fumbles. Four times, he's registered at least nine sacks; last season, with the Baltimore Ravens, Clowney picked up 9.5 sacks for the second time in his career. Being able to emulate his latest production will be huge to the chances of the Panthers' success on defense.

"I'm just practicing, working on my moves and myself really out there, just learning the defense," Clowney said following the practice and scrimmage. "I wasn't really worried about the team reps as far as me getting back there, whatever, just me working on me and running to the ball, getting in shape, getting ready for the season."

Thursday night was a mock scrimmage though, still a week ahead of the first pre-season game, the latter of which can be more of an exhibition. And Clowney has 11 off-season's now under his belt, with a blueprint of what to do and how. In other words, if he'd wanted to turn down the intensity and not go full tilt during the scrimmage, it wouldn't have been unheard of.

But that's not the attitude Clowney wants to accept for himself or his teammates.

"This is for the guys out there with me. It wasn't necessarily about myself. It's other guys around me," Clowney explained Thursday night. "I expect them to go hard too. We sign up to play this game and practice and it's much bigger than myself. It ain't about me.

"It's about the guys around me, trying to get them guys to develop…I come in as being one of the older players in the league and I don't want to have no slack off by myself before I start saying something to anybody else. So, I got to hold myself to a high standard and that's how I approach the days when I walk in the building."

The no slack off approach shows up most noticeably on the practice field, or in the backfield of a scrimmage chasing down a would-be sack. And now at 31-years-old and with more than a decade of experience in the league, Clowney is hoping every rep he takes helps push what is a relatively young unit around him.

"That's what you can ask for the guys that's on your team, just play hard, high level and like I said, run to the ball, get there. And that's all you can really ask for at this moment right now and just practicing hard," Clowney implored.

"And you can't say nothing until we get to the first game, but just looking forward to seeing people just go out there and compete. Really that's all this game is about to me over my career, it's just being able to compete and not quit."

One of those younger guys is DJ Johnson, a third-round pick by the Panthers in the 2023 NFL draft. Heading into his second season, he's put on a camp that Canales called "fantastic."

"The effort and style we're looking for, DJ is exemplifying that, so I'm really hopeful to see what he gets to do," Canales bragged.

The pass-rushers unit has been thin most of the offseason, with K'Lavon Chaisson missing voluntary practices (he also did not practice Thursday). By the time Chaisson took the field for mandatory minicamp, Eku Leota had suffered a cal injury that kept him out of minicamp. Leota has recovered and is back on the field. Johnson himself suffered a knee injury in June, before returning for training camp. And D.J. Wonnum has been placed on the active/physically unable to perform list while he rehabs a torn quadricep suffered at the end of last season.

Essentially, there have been ample reps available at practice for those in the outside linebacker room. Johnson has taken advantage.

"He definitely one of the best edge setters that we have out there, like setting the edge, stopping the run," Clowney said of his teammate. "DJ definitely brings that physicality to the game, and you need that out of the guys around you. This is a physical game. This is most definitely, what you're going to need to stop the run in this league, physicality. So, for him to be able to set the edge and doing that, that's good for the team."

With each practice, scrimmage, and soon pre-season games, the Panthers inch closer to the start of the season. Jadeveon Clowney is already playing as if it's here however, making sure he's prepared as soon as the season kicks off, and pushing the rest of his fellow pass rushers to do the same.