Carolina Panthers coach Dave Canales is addressing rookie Nic Scourton’s recent injury.
Canales, 44, explained that Scourton, 20, was initially diagnosed with heat-related symptoms after a joint practice with the Houston Texans on Thursday, August 14.
“It was a very physical play,” Canales said of the practice, according to an ESPN report published on Saturday, August 16. “It was presenting like heat exhaustion because he was having trouble breathing.”
He added, “He was getting tired and all that, so we kind of cooled him down, [but] we couldn’t get him to respond good enough to where we felt comfortable about putting him back into practice.”
Canales shared that the NFL player was taken to Houston’s Memorial Hermann Medical Center for observations, where it was then determined that Scourton had suffered a collapsed lung.
Canales explained that Scourton was at Memorial Hermann on Thursday before traveling back to Charlotte, North Carolina, via car alongside his family members and an athletic trainer. Scourton arrived there on Saturday.
As for when Scourton may return to the football field, Canales explained that it’s “really week-to-week with those types of things.”
“I’ve heard from trainers, from different coaches, where a guy played the next week,” Canales said. “So we’ve got to be smart on that one and let you know where we’re at once we get back to Charlotte.”
There are currently no further details regarding Scourton’s condition.
The edge-rusher was selected by the Panthers in the second-round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Days later, Panthers tight end Mitchell Evans conveyed his excitement about adding Scourton to the NFL team. (Evans, 22, was also selected by the Panthers in the 2025 NFL Draft.)
“Dude is a certified baller. He’s strong, fast, he’s got it all,” Evans said, per a video shared by the Panthers’ official Instagram account in April. “He’s gonna be a good teammate to go against in practice and get better every single day, but I would hate to game plan against him because it was tough for us.”
The next month, Scourton celebrated his achievement while sharing a series of photos of himself on a football field. “The next step!” he wrote via Instagram in May. “Thank you God and thank you @panthers for this opportunity! Jeremiah 29:11!”
Later that month, Scourton shared a series of photographs rocking his new blue-and-black uniform adorned with the number 11. “💩 don’t feel real got my mind racing,” he captioned the Instagram post.
Read the full article here
