Carolina Panthers: Recapping the Latest Buzz Heading into Training Camp

The Carolina Panthers' training camp is scheduled to open on July 31 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. That signals the real start of football season and ends the void of new information that is the gap between the end of minicamp and the start of training camp. We'll finally see competition for the starting spots up for grabs with practices that allow contact and preseason games that almost, but don't quite, matter.

Honestly, at this point, the best news for Panthers fans is no news. No Panthers were hit in the wave of suspensions that the NFL laid down at the beginning of the month. No Panthers injured themselves on the Fourth of July, unlike Jason Pierre-Paul and C.J. Wilson. No Panthers announced plans to hold out or otherwise showed a lack of readiness to play in 2015. It's been a quiet few weeks, which is precisely what you want out of your team at this point.

That doesn't mean the news ticker and rumor mill are completely dry, however. Here are five of the stories that are surrounding the Panthers as training camp approaches.

ESPN: Panthers Attend Isaiah Battle Workout

RICHARD SHIRO/Associated Press

For the first time in several years, the NFL's supplemental draft might actually generate some news. No player has been taken in the supplemental draft since Josh Gordon in 2012, but that should change this year.

According to ESPN, the Panthers were one of 26 teams on hand for Clemson offensive tackle Isaiah Battle's workout on Tuesday. Battle is coming out early based either on a need to provide for his new child or due to citations for speeding and marijuana, according to Will Vandervort of the Clemson Insider. Battle was projected as a potential first-round pick in next year's draft, but he's raw and needs a little more polish before he's ready to start at the NFL level. Another year at Clemson would have significantly improved him.

The Panthers' need at offensive tackle is well-documented. They drafted Daryl Williams in the fourth round in this year's draft, but considering how poorly the starters played last season, more talent in the mix would not be a bad thing. However, Battle is not likely to actually win a starting job this year. Free agent Michael Oher and the winner of a Williams/Mike Remmers/Nate Chandler battle are likely to be the starters, with Battle potentially sitting on the bench and learning for a year.

With that in mind, should the Panthers make a play for Battle? Probably not a major one. At the moment, the Panthers are slated to only have their standard set of seven draft picks, and they didn't lose enough talent this offseason to be a serious contender for any compensatory selections. They don't have any extra 2016 picks to spend, in other words. Rather than just using a pick on Battle, it's probably smarter to have a selection to choose from next offseason.

Still, a troubled but talented Battle is worth something. If I were general manager Dave Gettleman, I'd stick a mid-round-pick offer in for Battle; something in the fourth round, perhaps. The problem is, since the Panthers made the playoffs last season, they'll be near the end of the priority list. With 25 other teams interested, the odds that the Panthers could get Battle without overpaying is almost non-existent. I'd still submit a mid-round offer, but I'd be neither shocked nor disappointed when someone else jumps ahead of the Panthers to grab him.

David Newton: Kony Ealy Not Putting Himself in Position to Be Taunted Again

Bob Leverone/Associated Press

Over at ESPN, David Newton wrote a piece on second-year defensive end Kony Ealy's improved presence in OTAs compared to last season. Whereas last year, Ealy was being taunted by Cam Newton for being unable to beat an undrafted offensive lineman from Canada, this year, it's been Ealy in the heat of things, getting into a scrape with Michael Oher.

Ealy's improved confidence on the practice field hopefully will translate to game days. Ealy was thrust into a quasi-starting role before he was really ready last season. The suspensions of Greg Hardy and Frank Alexander meant that Ealy received between 25 and 50 percent of snaps in every game after Week 1, according to Pro Football Focus. That was too soon, as he struggled at the beginning of the season.

By the end of the year, though, Ealy had begun flashing some of the potential that made him a second-round pick. After only nine quarterback pressures in the first 13 weeks of the season, Ealy matched that total in the last four games, according to PFF. He recorded a sack in each of Carolina's last three regular-season games. That's actually tied for the fifth-longest active sack streak, behind a quartet of Pro Bowlers: Justin Houston, Jason Pierre-Paul, J.J. Watt and Clay Matthews, according to ESPN.

That's quite the list to be on. It gives hope that Ealy's early-season struggles were simply due to getting used to NFL game speed, and that his true talent was coming out toward the end of the year. If he can keep that end-of-year form into 2015 and beyond, he should easily win the starting defensive end spot across from Charles Johnson.

Ron Rivera: Charles Tillman 'Sharing His Wealth of Knowledge'

Uncredited/Associated Press

When Charles Tillman was signed as a free agent back in April, he brought an immediate veteran presence to what is a very young cornerback group. Last year's primary starters, Josh Norman and Bene Benwikere, were both 26 years old or younger last season. Bringing in a multiple-time Pro Bowler and 12-year veteran to help solidify the position made a ton of sense.

Coach Ron Rivera has noted that Tillman has already had a positive effect.

"One of the things that he's done real nice is he's mixing in with the players—young guys, young corners especially," said Rivera, per Ashley Mahoney of the Charlotte Post. "He's sharing his wealth of knowledge. I think he's done a great job for us. He's had a great impact."

The fact that Tillman worked with Rivera and secondary coach Steve Wilks in Chicago certainly is helping his transition—it's a new team, but one that does very similar things to what Tillman has done in the past.

The big question for training camp is whether the Panthers will start the experienced but older and injury-prone Tillman over the inexperienced but younger and potential-laden Benwikere. When both players are fully healthy, Tillman is probably the better cornerback at this point in time, but a healthy Tillman has been something of a hypothetical situation in recent years.

Tillman has played in just 10 games the last two seasons. He was an All-Pro the last time he was a regular force on the field, but that was at age 31. Now 34 years old and with multiple major injuries in his past, how much does Tillman have left in the tank? That's one of the major questions the Panthers have entering training camp.

Michael Oher: 'The Blind Side' Has Hurt My NFL Career

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

Last month, Michael Oher was quoted as saying that the award-winning biopic of his life story prior to being drafted, The Blind Side, has hurt his NFL career, via David Newton of ESPN:

"

I'm not trying to prove anything. People look at me, and they take things away from me because of a movie. They don't really see the skills and the kind of player I am. That's why I get downgraded so much, because of something off the field.

This stuff, calling me a bust, people saying if I can play or not ... that has nothing to do with football. It's something else off the field. That's why I don't like that movie.

"

Whatever you think of the movie, there's no doubt that it made Oher more of a household name. It's certainly well within the realm of possibility that because he's a more well-known player than a random offensive tackle, he'd get more media coverage and more eyeballs looking at him than other linemen. That would tend to exaggerate his highs and lows, putting all of his work under a larger microscope than even other first-round tackles. If that were the case, then it would definitely be defensible to say that a few bad plays would resonate more for Oher than another player.

Unfortunately, it hasn't been just a few bad plays for Oher. Over the past three seasons,  Oher has a combined Pro Football Focus grade of minus-47.5. That's the fourth-worst grade for a tackle over that period, ahead of only Jordan Mills, Michael Harris and Byron Bell. His 138 quarterback pressures allowed is also fourth-worst, behind Bell, Jermon Bushrod and Anthony Castonzo. People aren't calling him a bust because his life was made into a movie; people are calling him a bust because he has played poorly on the field.

That's not to say that Oher can't rebound from poor seasons. His offensive line coach in Carolina, John Matsko, was his offensive line coach during his rookie year in Baltimore, when he made the All-Rookie team. Perhaps Matsko can bring that version of Oher back to the surface.

Charlotte Observer: Kelvin Benjamin's Hamstring Injury May Be Due to Weight

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

One of the few wide receivers more or less guaranteed to make the 2015 roster, Kelvin Benjamin didn't exactly light up OTAs and minicamp. He's been dealing with multiple hamstring injuries, and Jonathan Jones of the Charlotte Observer reported that Benjamin showed up for offseason workouts eight to nine pounds overweight. That, coach Rivera postured, could be the reason behind the injuries:

"It could be as simple as weight," Rivera told Jones.

"He did come in a little heavy, and he had to work himself into shape. Or diet or something. We're going to take a look at it and make sure it's not a chronic issue with him. He's too good a football player to have on the sideline."

This is something that Benjamin has battled with in the past. Benjamin struggled with weight issues at Florida State and at his pro day coming into the league. For whatever reason, Benjamin tends to balloon up during the offseason and work back into shape during training camp.

If anything, being "only" eight or nine pounds overweight is actually a step forward for Benjamin, who was actually redshirted in college because of the weight issue. It's still not an ideal situation, but a step forward is a step forward.

I don't expect either the hamstring or weight issues to affect Benjamin significantly in 2015. He's been dealing with the weight problem his entire career and has still regularly produced, so that's a positive sign. It's just been somewhat blown out of proportion thanks to the lull in NFL news that happens in June and July. Once training camp starts in earnest, the story will be long forgotten.

Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the Carolina Panthers. Follow him @BryKno on Twitter.