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The Carolina Panthers might have to enact a backup plan for their backup plan at cornerback.
Week 8 will mark the team's fourth straight game without their usual starting corners in Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson. But they also may be down Akayleb Evans, who was listed as a non-participant at practice on Monday and Tuesday due to a triceps injury.
If Evans cannot suit up against the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night, then the Panthers will have to dig even deeper into their locker room. Here's what head coach Dave Canales said about the situation following this afternoon's session:
"If AK can't go—is it Corey [Thornton]? Is it Marco Wilson? Is it Malcolm [DeWalt IV]? There are guys who did different types of things and have different skill sets. Marco Wilson's a quicker, athletic mover. And Corey Thornton is a big, physical corner who's played safety, who's played nickel for us.
"So there's options there."
Wilson has, by far, the most starting experience of the bunch. The former fourth-round pick has started in 37 of his 64 career games, with 2,177 snaps as an outside corner.
Thornton, an undrafted free-agent addition from 2025, has fallen off the radar a bit following a relatively impressive rookie campaign—one that ended with a broken fibula in Week 12. He has remained on the practice squad throughout Carolina's first six outings.
Other cornerbacks currently on the Panthers' roster include DeWalt, Chau Smith-Wade, Robert Rochell, DeVonta Smith and Zion Childress.