CHARLOTTE — The fear of the unknown can't drive decisions. That's the mantra the Panthers and Dave Canales are taking with the roster, position battles and the approach they want to take in the Week 1 game against the New Orleans Saints. Primarily, with the outside linebacker unit.

"We can't be afraid to expose them to (games) and we got to live with some of the lumps," Canales said on Wednesday.

Granted, this idea might be just as much about necessity as belief. The Panthers have four outside linebackers on the active roster at the moment, and only Jadeveon Clowney has recorded a sack in a regular season game. The club released former Jaguars first-round pick K'Lavon Chaisson on Tuesday. Canales explained Wednesday that Chaisson "had a really good role that he was starting to develop for himself in terms of special teams." But "we were looking for somebody to be a dynamic game changer as far as the pass rush."

Though the release left Eku Leota, DJ Johnson, and waiver claim rookie Jamie Sheriff to fight for reps opposite Clowney. The chance to see them all outweighs any minimal fear over "the lumps." And while the outset may be bumpy, Canales believes it's worth it in the long run.

"Play them, play them early and, and see what we got there," Canales said. "That's been something that's kind of ingrained in my DNA is, let's get information about the players. Let's not be afraid to play young guys on the offense or the defensive side.

"Let's get them out there. They will learn the football, we will be all better for it when we get into Week 6, 7, and you go to the finish of the season, the more you play these guys early on, we can get them game ready."

Currently Johnson is listed first on the depth chart with the veteran Clowney, but the idea remains letting all three of the young guys get reps.

"We're looking for somebody to step up and take that job," Canales said. "So this is not something where it's just like, hey, you're the starter."

Another new face steps into the locker room

Messiah Swinson will eventually take a nap.

The Panthers newest tight end has had a whirlwind 36 hours, a stretch that saw him move almost a thousand miles on a moment's notice and thrown directly into a new team.

At 11 a.m. Central on Tuesday, the Packers practice squad tight end was heading to meetings. His phone rang, and he saw it was his agent, but since meetings were about to start, he ignored the call. The agent immediately texted, asking Swinson to call him. After stepping out to make the call, the agent told him, "I think I have an active situation for you."

The only catch? Swinson had to decide right then. His agent gave a quick elevator pitch – "He was just like, it's a really good opportunity for me," Swinson said of the conversation. "They like the tape you put out there during preseason and…it is a good situation. It's a good room, good tight end coach, good team, good young core." So Swinson decided to give it a shot.

The Panthers could be without two tight ends on Sunday, as Tommy Tremble and Ian Thomas did not participate in practice. Canales told reporters on Wednesday that "we're going to take this thing through the whole week with Tommy and Ian, two guys that we're counting on. But we also have to be smart and get the rest of the group of tight ends ready to go in case they're not able to join us."

With that in mind, the Panthers put in the call to grab Swinson off the Packers practice squad.

He wrapped up things in Green Bay and hopped a plane, landing in Charlotte late Tuesday night. He was awarded four whole hours of sleep, before arriving to the facilities for physicals and paperwork. By noon he was on the field for a walk-through that rolled straight into a practice. He was on the field for three hours, meeting new teammates and picking things up as the afternoon wore on.

The Panthers didn't push him too far on his first day. When the time would come to get a rep, he'd lean over to Jordan Matthews or Ja'Tavion Sanders, peeking at their script and getting tips.

"They would explain it to me and we just kind of talk through it throughout practice," Swinson laughed. "Those guys helped me out, try to lean on those guys to help me with this process."

At 6-8 and 260 pounds, Swinson is a sentry on the field. It's made him a coveted in-line blocker, and what he feels he brings most to a field.

"I just try to take pride in that and take pride in and do it to the best of my ability," Swinson said. "My in-line blocking, my run blocking and stuff like that— I didn't have any catches or anything in the preseason. They asked me to do a job and I felt like I went and did it to full extent.

"So, I feel like that's maybe what they needed in the room as of right now. And I was here to work and whatever they need, I'm ready to do it… it's not always the prettiest, it's not always the glorious stuff that you get to do on the field and everything but you can have a job."

He'll be back on Thursday ready to dive more fully into the playbook, meet all of his teammates and immerse himself in this new team. But first, he's going to take a nap.

A new Taysom on the block

The Panthers are familiar with Taysom Hill. The whole NFL is familiar with the do-it all offensive weapon for the Saints. But knowing what he can provide in terms of versatility and actually stopping it are two different things.

"He's a Swiss Army (knife)," defensive lineman Shy Tuttle said Wednesday of Hill. "Running back, quarterback, receiver, tight end, can do a little bit of everything. So, on the field it's like all right, he might be in the backfield wildcat, but he can throw it, run it. He might even throw it to himself and catch it!"

Hill was a dual threat again in 2023, carrying the ball 81 times for 401 yards and four rushing touchdowns, in addition to 33 receptions for 291 yards and two receiving touchdowns. He also went 6-11 passing for 83 yards and a touchdown. His lone game missed in 2023 was against the Panthers in Week 14. But during his performance in Week 2, Hill threw one pass for eight yards against Carolina, and rushed nine times for 75 yards.

During their first day of preparation for the Saints, Ejiro Evero's defense faced a couple of variations of the Hill simulation, but during the open portion, it was practice squad linebacker Kenny Dyson who played the part of Hill, allowing Dyson to slip back into his high school position of tight end.

After practice, the rookie LB wasn't too pleased with his one passing attempt, and teammates didn't let him forget it either.

"Man," safety Nick Scott laughed of the attempted throw, before turning back to Dyson and delivering a message "I'm not going to snitch but come with it tomorrow. Just come with it."

Last year is last year

When Canales was hired to take over a 2-15 team, he knew the ghost of last season would cast a heavy pall. He spent time watching every snap from the 2023 Panthers, wanting to know everything that happened, good and bad.

Then, he put it behind him, and asked the team to do the same.

With Week 1 barreling towards the Panthers, questions about how this season might relate to last inevitably arise. When they do, Canales points to months ago, because that's where he left this topic.

"That was an old conversation," Canales said. "That's a spring (conversation). We haven't, we've been talking about today, like, can we capture Wednesday? We win games each day. They don't just happen on Sunday. And so the focus is really, who are we today?"

The Panthers have put their roster through waves of turnover in the past couple of weeks. No matter what is has been though, Canales wants his guys to focus just on what it is.

"If you look at the roster and the turnover that's happened, it's a new thing. It's something new that we're going to become, which I'm excited about," Canales said.

"And that's really been the tone that I've taken with the team and the tone the team has taken as well as like, we got a bunch of new guys to play with. Let's learn each other. Let's figure out a style that we know how to play with that."

It's a mindset Bryce Young has adapted as well explaining, "we've done the learning part. Through last year, through this year, after every practice, we watch the film, we talk about things and then we got to turn the page. I think, obviously it's practices and stuff, but get in that habit of turning the page and knowing that everything resets."

O' Captain My Captain

Part of becoming a new team is electing new captains. The Panthers named four on Wednesday, for the 2024 season: Young, Derrick Brown, Shaq Thompson and Sam Franklin Jr. There will be a fifth rotating captain from week-to-week.

"I love that they chose the guys they did because they really exemplify what we're looking for from our team," Canales said Wednesday of the team voted results.

Originally, Canales planned on their being three captains, one from each phase of the game (offense, defense and special teams). But when the votes were returned, it quickly became clear both Brown and Thompson needed to serve with the C on their chest.

"The people spoke," Canales exclaimed, "and there was a lot of votes for both guys and I just said, great. That's exactly what we want is for guys to identify that leadership, the people that stand for what we're about here."

Tuttle, Brown's right-hand man and friend or adversary depending on how the wind blows, joked he voted for Brown, but it was in hopes his teammate would buy the room new E-bikes.

For Franklin, even being name a captain was a surprise.

"I voted for (punter) Johnny Hekker," Franklin laughed. "They said I rigged the poll though."

He didn't rig the vote, but receiving the honor was extremely special for the fifth-year safety and special teams ace.

"It was really special," Franklin admitted. "This is my first time being a captain. And then it just brings like a little bit more edge. I want to do a lot more better things for my teammates. Put myself in a better role and then, you know, bringing young guys along a little bit more.

"This is going to be a special opportunity for me to grow as a person and to show my leadership a little bit more."

Franklin suffered a broken foot in late July, keeping him off the field for much of training camp. But Canales feels his team voted for Franklin, keeping in mind "just what he represented in the past and the type of heart and passion that he plays the game with, the energy that he brings when he's out there."

This is Young's second year as a captain, and Canales said the vote for the second-year quarterback "was all but unanimous."

"It just talks to his consistency, the way that he comes to work every day, his demeanor, the way that he respects people, talks through things with the skill players, talks to (center Austin Corbett) as they're getting things organized up front on the line of scrimmage.

"So, that's the guy that you're depending on to have that type of leadership, where he doesn't have to say a lot. You just got to be consistent and be the same guy. He values that, that's near and dear to his heart. And it's showed up, this camp