The word on Tuesday was that Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly was scheduled for an evaluation on Wednesday to see if his recovery from a concussion had progressed far enough for him to return to the practice field.
It seems that the evaluation went well. Kuechly is in uniform with a helmet at Panthers practice for the first time since he sustained the head injury on November 17.
Kuechly likely still has other steps in the concussion protocol ahead of him before he’ll be given the green light for a full practice or a return to game action, but it will be a big step in that direction as long as Kuechly doesn’t have further symptoms after stepping up his activity level.
Kuechly’s concussion was his second in the last two seasons, but there was never a sign from the team that they were considering shutting him down for the rest of this season due to that history or their 4-8 season. That suggests he’ll play again this season as long as he gets fully cleared.