Panthers head coach Dave Canales said second-round pick Nic Scourton suffered a collapsed lung during practice Thursday
Scourton was initially diagnosed with heat-related symptoms after practice but went to the hospital after symptoms grew.
‘We’ll keep evaluating him,’ Canales said. ‘I don’t really know the timeline, it’s really week-to-week with those types of things.’
The Carolina Panthers may start the regular season without one of their top draft picks on defense.
Panthers head coach Dave Canales said Saturday, Aug. 16, that second-round pick Nic Scourton suffered a collapsed lung during practice Thursday ahead of Carolina’s preseason game against the Houston Texans.
Scourton was initially diagnosed with heat-related symptoms after practice.
‘It was presenting like heat exhaustion because he was having trouble breathing so we kind of cooled him down,’ Canales said. ‘We couldn’t get him to respond good enough to where we felt comfortable about putting him back into practice … The symptoms grew after practice, so we checked him into the hospital.’
He was later diagnosed with a collapsed lung. He’s on his way back to Charlotte, North Carolina while the team remained in Houston for its game against the Texans. Houston won 20-3.
‘We’ll keep evaluating him,’ Canales said. ‘I don’t really know the timeline, it’s really week-to-week with those types of things. I’ve heard from the trainers and different coaches where a guy played the next week but, you know, we got to be smart with that one.’
Carolina selected Scourton in the second round, No. 51 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M. He was the second edge rusher from the school selected in the draft following fellow Aggies prospect Shemar Stewart, who the Cincinnati Bengals selected No. 17 overall.
He’s also one of four draft picks by the Panthers on defense as they look to improve what was the worst unit in the league by points, total yards and rushing yards allowed in 2024.
Scourton had two tackles and a sack in the Panthers’ preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns.
Panthers OLB depth chart
Carolina lists Scourton as an outside linebacker in defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero’s scheme. Though he wasn’t expected to start right away, he’d likely see lots of work early on as a rotational rusher.
Here’s how the depth chart looks as the Panthers head home after the loss to Houston:
Pat Jones II
D.J. Wonnum
Princely Umanmielen
Nic Scourton
Thomas Incoom
DJ Johnson
Boogie Basham
J.J. Weaver
Panthers preseason schedule
Carolina’s down to its final preseason game as we inch closer to the start of the regular season.
Cleveland 30-10 Carolina
Houston 20-3 Carolina
Carolina vs. Pittsburgh: Thursday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. ET