CHARLOTTE — This is when the real footballs starts. Up till now, everything the Panthers have done, through OTAs and minicamp and the first week of training camp, has been football adjacent. But on Tuesday, the pads go on and the hitting begins. It's when a team really starts to take shape and guys separate themselves.

"We have our first padded day tomorrow, so we're hitting and the physical part of our play, we're getting after it just like just like we hoped for," Dave Canales previewed. "Everything's working out, everything's aligning perfectly right here with our schedule, the way we have it."

For the guys up front though, those down in the dirt in the trenches, if anything, putting on the pads makes things easier.

"For us, I feel like it's the same thing every day," guard Robert Hunt said Monday. "I feel like playing without them and playing with them is the same thing. We playing fast and playing physical. Of course, that intensity goes up a little bit, but I think it's pretty much the same."

"Definitely," chimed in guard Damien Lewis. "Pads on, pads off, we still banging."

Granted, Lewis and Hunt are both mountains of men who can take a hit without the reverberation of a smaller guy. The pads allow them to put an extra pep in a push, especially on downhill gap schemes, as center Austin Corbett explained. But those along the front lines are already, "generating so much power and you can only do so much in that time frame."

Putting on the pads just gives the linemen something to hold onto.

"Pads are, that's when I'm able to hold a little better. And so, it makes the job easier," Corbett laughed.

Something else making the job easier is the addition of Hunt and Lewis themselves. The Panthers opened up the checkbook to bring in two guards that, along with Corbett, now total 955 pounds along the interior (give or take a cheeseburger). It's a concerted effort to provide more protection for Bryce Young, who was sacked 62 times last season (tying a franchise record) and is learning a new offense in his second year.

"Both Damien and Robert, both massive men, and both of them can move…It makes it exciting," added Corbett. "It's a lot of weight on the inside and so be able to get down, bend and move some bodies and open up some run lanes and at the same time, anchor down in the pocket and let (quarterback) Bryce Young do his thing."

Opening up run lanes—which will become more pronounced after practices are padded—has been something Canales promised since being hired, taking over an offense that was 20^th in total rushing last season. With each practice thus far, it becomes more and more clear that he plans on keeping that promise.

"I think that the teams that play well into the season, especially towards the end are the ones who can run the football and who can stop the run," Canales said Monday. "That commitment to me is the formula that I've seen work to make us competitive.

"It challenges both sides of it. When you can, as a defense, when you can force a team to pass, you can create good opportunities. As an offense, when you can run the ball, when you need to, especially as a mixer for sure because it opens up explosive plays, but finishing games running the ball, there's nothing better than when you're just able to just continue to pound it."

The "circle of toughness," as Canales called it, gives each phase of the game an area in which they can adhere to that identity. For the offense, it's running the ball.

Team run periods will allow the Panthers offense to hone in on that toughness, once the pads are strapped on. It also sets up one of the more intriguing match-ups in camp; Robert Hunt versus Derrick Brown.

"I probably should tape my hands a little more," joked Brown, the record setting defensive tackle. "Robert is a big fellow, man. That's what I spend most of my day with actually on the field. So, Robert's a big dude and you know, just kind of bringing him in, I just feel like it's truly going to take my game to the next level."

The interior trio are what Hunt called "a work in progress" which he admitted was largely due to his taking time off during the offseason for the birth of his child. Each rep is bringing them closer together, he assured though. With a clear commitment to running the ball now, and the freedom to take the intensity up a notch starting Tuesday, the football becomes more real.

Said Hunt, "Whatever we do, I'm just going full speed and just playing football."