CHARLOTTE – Rookie linebacker Shaq Thompson, on track to return from a knee injury this week, wanted to accomplish one thing in particular after the Panthers drafted him in the first round.
"I have to come in and earn the veterans' respect," Thompson said at his introductory press conference.
Has he achieved that goal?
"He has," linebacker Thomas Davis said. "He’s done it by coming in and doing things the right way."
Thompson was drafted to play alongside two of the NFL’s best linebackers in Davis and Luke Kuechly.