Monday Night Football: Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints inactives
The Monday Night Football double-header begins with the Carolina Panthers hosting the New Orleans Saints for a divisional rivalry matchup. Injury reports from both teams revealed that though there are a few key contributors injured, it’s mostly full steam ahead for MNF action.
The Panthers had some unfortunate injury news after the first weekend of games across the league wrapped. Cornerback Jaycee Horn went down with a hamstring in the team’s Week 1 loss. The injury is not considered season-ending, though, which leaves some hope he could return “at some point in the second half of the season.” Veteran wideout DJ Chark is expected to make his Panthers debut after being sidelined in Week 1 with a hamstring injury.
Meanwhile, for New Orleans, two players entered game day as questionable on the injury report – safety J.T. Gray and running back Kendre Miller.
The Panthers and Saints square off at 7:15 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN2 with the Steelers versus Browns game to follow. Here’s who’s in and who’s out ahead of tonight’s kickoff.
Panthers Inactives
CB Sam Webb
OLB DJ Johnson
OL Nash Jensen
OL David Sharpe
Saints Inactives
WR A.T. Perry
RB Kirk Merritt
Panthers to start Cade Mays
Carolina Panthers head coach Frank Reich revealed that Cade Mays will get the start in place of injured guard Brady Christensen. NFL writer Darin Gantt reported the news following Christensen’s move to IR. Mays is a second-year player out of Tennessee. He’s played in 11 career games with the Panthers, making two starts.
“Cade Mays will start at guard,” Reich said. “And there may be some rotation there, maybe not. We’ll see how it goes.”
Christensen sustained an injury to his biceps during Carolina’s Week 1 loss to Atlanta. He played the entirety of the game, but the injury required surgery, which the lineman has already undergone. Christensen will miss the remainder of the season.
Mays was selected in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Panthers. He started his college career at Georgia (2018-19) before transferring to Tennessee to round out his time (2020-21).
In 2021, Mays was a second-team All-SEC selection with the Volunteers.
On3’s Dustin Schutte and Nick Geddes contributed to this report.