As a rookie in 2025, Carolina Panthers linebacker Nic Scourton quickly emerged as a vital player to the team's defense. Unfortunately, it looks like his second year in the league could be over before it even begins.
According to NFL insiders Ian Rapoport and Cameron Wolfe, Scourton went down in practice today with a knee injury and was left in tears. He is believed to have suffered a torn ACL but will seek a second opinion.
"Panthers promising young LB Nic Scourton, who went down in practice with a knee injury that left him in tears, suffered a torn ACL, sources told me and @CameronWolfe. He’s done for the season," Rapoport wrote on X.
"Nic Scourton will seek a second opinion and if the ACL is confirmed, he'll have surgery in the coming weeks. The #Panthers are high on Scourton, who is just scratching the surface."
Frustration in Charlotte
Scourton was a second-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and emerged as a key contributor to the Panthers' defense by midway through the season. He finished the year with 47 tackles, 5.0 sacks, seven tackles for loss and nine QB hits while playing all 17 games and getting eight starts.
It also wound up being the best season that the Panthers have had in nearly a decade. Their eight wins were the most since 2017 and ended a playoff drought that had lasted seven seasons and included a six-year run where they went 29-71.
© Bob Donnan-Imagn Images.
Unfortunately, expectations don't seem to be all that high for the Panthers this year - and that was before the Scourton injury. Per ESPN, DraftKings currently has them listed with the third-best odds to win the NFC South at +310.
Any improvement that the Panthers enjoy this year will have to come via the offense, led by a quickly-improving Bryce Young at QB.
