Sir Purr
Well-known member
- Mar 16, 2019
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KAWANN SHORT AND THOMAS DAVIS
Teammates from 2013-18, Short and Davis are still very friendly with each other. Importantly, though, Short is well on the mend from a partially torn rotator cuff he suffered in Week 2 last year.
"I'm about seven months out (from surgery). It's an eight-month process. I feel about 75 to 80 percent right now," Short said. "The doctor kind of said usually a good turnaround is about seven-and-a-half (months). So I feel pretty good. I've been lifting heavy. Now it's just trying to get that range of motion back."
As for the schedule itself, Short always looks first for the opening opponent and the number of primetime games. While the Panthers do have that Thursday game with the Falcons, that's the only night game currently on the slate.
"I think that's one of the most important things is seeing how disrespected we are to not get any (extra) primetime (games)," Short said. "But we've got to make (the Raiders) feel what type of team we are this year."
Carolina and Washington will face off in Week 16, and that's going to be a special one for Davis, who spent the first 14 years of his career with the Panthers. The linebacker admitted there will be plenty of texts back and forth between him and his former teammates leading up to that Sunday.
"I know it's going to be a bunch of jitters. It's going to be a bunch of butterflies. But it's going to be exciting. I'm looking forward to it," Davis said. "It's an opportunity to come back out and just compete with some of my brothers who are still on the team. But at the same time, it's all about going and trying to get that win."
With voices like Davis and Luke Kuechly no longer on the Panthers' roster, the defense will need veteran leadership. It's not necessarily in Short's nature to be all that vocal, but it's a role he plans to expand in 2020.
"It's something that I have to do if I want to be a leader around here," Short said. "Being around guys like TD and all of those guys, they kind of laid out the blueprint of how it's done, what needs to be said at the right time."