CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Captain Munnerlyn tried to trick reporters this week as they filtered into the Carolina Panthers locker room.
"Thomas Davis!" the veteran cornerback shouted toward the locker next to his in the far left corner of the room. "What are you doing, Thomas? TAAAAAAA-mas!"
Davis didn't answer.
The locker was empty.
The outside linebacker is suspended for the first four games, so he won't be allowed inside Bank of America Stadium until the week before the Oct. 14 game at Washington.
Munnerlyn will miss Davis, particularly the intensity the 35-year-old brings to practice and the trash-talking the former Georgia star does on and off the field.