Plenty of players are described as being ahead of schedule in their rehab from injury and Panthers Jon Beason is part of that club.
Not all of those players actually make good on that description, but Beason appears set to do so. The linebacker has been held out of team drills during OTAs this spring as he recovers from surgeries on his knee and shoulder with designs on making his full return to the field during training camp. Beason isn’t going to have to wait that long, however.
“I’m feeling pretty good. At this point I can’t be more happy with it,” Beason said, via the team’s website. “Training camp was the goal, but [I’m] feeling so good we’re going to work in a little bit in the minicamp.”
Beason will use the extra time to speed up his transition from middle linebacker, now occupied by 2012 defensive rookie of the year Luke Kuechly, to the weak side. It will also give the Panthers more time to assess where Beason is after playing just five games in the last two seasons because of a variety of injuries. If he’s sound, the Panthers defense will be much better for it. If he’s not, Beason may run out of chances to get healthy in Carolina.