The Panthers have gotten a good sense of how first-round running back Christian McCaffrey will fit into the offense during his rookie season over the course of the summer, but their second-round pick hasn’t been as involved.
Wide receiver Curtis Samuel hurt his hamstring during one of the first training camp practices in July and remained out of action until Tuesday’s practice. Samuel joined the rest of the receivers for individual drills as he took a step closer to a full return.
Samuel wore a helmet, but didn’t have pads and didn’t run some of the longer routes his fellow wideouts were running during the session. That leaves him with some more work to do before he’s up to full speed, but any progress is a positive for a player that the Panthers expect to play a big part in expanding their offensive possibilities this season.
Unless Samuel bumps up his workload significantly in the next couple of days, it seems likely that his preseason debut will come after the Panthers face the Titans this Saturday.