CHARLOTTE – It's no surprise that the man who celebrated his five-year contract extension last week by watching more game film would be itching to return to practice following a concussion, but the Panthers are making sure Luke Kuechly doesn't get ahead of himself.
Head coach Ron Rivera is taking the same approach.
"We've just got to follow the (NFL concussion) protocol," Rivera said Wednesday after Kuechly missed practice three days after hurting himself in the season opener at Jacksonville. "I don't want to put anything there that's not right or not true. This has obviously become a serious issue, so to guess or to assume would be unfair.