The Panthers have activated running back and multi-dimensional offensive weapon Reggie Bonnafon from the practice squad, according to a tweet from the team’s official Twitter account.
#Panthers activate Reggie Bonnafon from practice squadhttps://t.co/2qZPWNvHoz
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) September 26, 2020
For those of you pining for Bonnafon to become a mainstay on the team’s 53-man roster, don’t celebrate just yet. This is just a move for this week’s game against the Chargers, at least for now. In 2020, teams are allowed to promote two practice squad players to the active game day roster each week. The Panthers did this last week with Woodrow Hamilton against the Buccaneers.
From the team’s announcement of the move:
Bonnafon takes one of two available slots for practice squad players on the gameday roster for this week. Carolina used the same roster procedure last week to elevate defensive tackle Woodrow Hamilton. This is one of Bonnafon’s two available activations before he must be signed to the 53-man roster.
Something to note is the last sentence of that snippet: teams can only bring players up to the game day roster twice before they must be officially added to the 53-man roster. This could come into play for Bonnafon, who is ostensibly being brought up because Christian McCaffrey is currently on injured reserve and will be out for at least three weeks with a high ankle sprain. If Bonnafon plays well enough against the Chargers, there’s a chance he could replace Trenton Cannon as the team’s third running back on the depth chart in a few weeks.