CHARLOTTE — The Panthers have placed kicker Joey Slye and offensive lineman Trent Scott on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Players may be placed on the list for either a positive test or being in close contact with another individual who has tested positive. Teams may not disclose for what reason any player has been added to the list.
Neither Slye nor Scott were at the Panthers' facility at Bank of America Stadium on Monday or Tuesday, as Carolina's football operation worked virtually for the two days, so their placement on the list can be backdated to Monday.
The Panthers are still on track to practice Wednesday afternoon.
In his second season out of Virginia Tech, Slye has made a league-leading 16 field goals on 18 attempts in 2020. He's made 10 of his 12 extra points, and 29 of his 33 kickoffs have gone for touchbacks.
While Slye hasn't been ruled out for Sunday's game at New Orleans, the Panthers' kicking game is in a tricky spot this week. With no kicker on the practice squad, any player Carolina acquires would have to take five negative COVID-19 PCR tests at least 24 hours apart before joining the team for in-person activities. Punter Joseph Charlton has high school placekicking experience and entered South Carolina as a kicker, but he did not kick in a game in his time at the school.
Scott has played in five of Carolina's six games this season after he was acquired off waivers from the Chargers. Scott played the majority of snaps in a rotational role at left tackle against Los Angeles in Week 3 and 29 percent of the snaps against Arizona in Week 4. He's the third offensive lineman to go on the reserve/COVID-19 list in the last week, joining Tyler Larsen and Michael Schofield.
