The bruised and battered Carolina Panthers will have to finish the 2023 campaign without one of their best players.
On Wednesday, the team announced that they’ve placed starting right guard Austin Corbett on injured reserve. The sixth-year offensive lineman, who sustained a left knee injury in the Week 11 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, is now expected to miss the remainder of the season.
Carolina also shelved cornerback Dicaprio Bootle with a knee injury of his own. The 26-year-old has played in eight games for the Panthers this year, including a pair of starts over the last two weeks.
So, to pad their losses, the team added a pair of players to their practice squad.
One is a familiar name in guard Justin McCray, who has already appeared in two games for Carolina in 2023. McCray signed on with the Panthers this past spring, was waived during final roster cuts, brought back on the practice squad shortly after and released again last month.
The second addition is cornerback AJ Parker. Parker, who spent the summer with the San Francisco 49ers, played in 16 games for the Detroit Lions between 2021 and 2022.