Things heat up at padded practice
Rivera said he hopes to have the starting offensive tackle situation sorted out by the second preseason game. Playing against the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs will help provide answers. "We are going to play two good pass-rushing teams when we get there," Rivera said. "Buffalo is a good pass-rushing team. I hope they play their first bunch of pass-rushers a good spell. Kansas City is a good pass-rushing team as well. The real true test will be against good pass-rushing players and teams when we get into the preseason."
At yesterday's practice Byron Bell and Nate Chandler continued to rotate from one side to the other. I spent a lot of time watching the offensive linemen yesterday in positional drills and I'm feeling better about Nate Chandler. Bell looks like the same player, maybe a little lighter reportedly but still a huge guy.
While Chandler may be better at LT than Bell he did play well when on the right side too lined up next to Trai Turner. Turner by the way looks solid though he had a couple ugly moments in the drills, getting beat a couple times. You can tell he's adjusting to the speed of the game.
Chandler at LT and Bell back at RT seems to present less risk to Cam's blind side but if the preference is running to the right side then the Panthers might put the left-handed Bell at LT and pair up Chandler with Turner for a more dynamic right side of the line. We won't find out for three more weeks. As Riveras stated, those first two preseason games should be good bell weathers for who winds up on which side.