Austin Corbett may be back sooner than expected, but the Carolina Panthers will still need a starting right guard at the beginning of the season.
General manager Scott Fitterer talked to reporters (on report day) in Spartanburg, S.C. on Tuesday. Among the handful of topics he addressed was that likely void on the interior of the offensive line, one that doesn’t have a solution just yet.
“No, I don’t know that yet,” he replied when asked if second-year guard Cade Mays would be Corbett’s temporary replacement. “It’s a wide-open competition. The good thing is we have numbers in there. We have versatility in there. Brady’s [Christensen] back, he’s fully healthy. Austin, he’s pushing to get back. He’s ahead of schedule. We’ll see what that means. We won’t know until like cut day, like where he’s at.”
Corbett tore his ACL in the 2022 season finale against the New Orleans Saints. Although there seems to be some encouraging progress for the 27-year-old, the Panthers are prepared to enter the campaign without him.
As a result, some of the young and newer hog mollies must also be prepared—including 2023 fourth-round pick Chandler Zavala.
“But those young guys really need to push,” Fitterer added. “And Zavala coming in—and unfortunately, he tweaked his hamstring last week, so he’s gonna be a couple weeks. But he’ll be in that mix. So Zavala, Cade Mays, Justin McCray—all those guys pushin’ and we like that group inside.”
