The Carolina Panthers activated right tackle Taylor Moton, running back Trevor Etienne and defensive tackle Turk Wharton on Saturday, the day before their game at the Philadelphia Eagles. All three had missed the season's first four games, and none was among the seven Panthers declared inactive, or held out of uniform, for Sunday's game.
Moton returned as Monroe Freeling, the rookie right tackle Carolina drafted 19th overall in April, was listed as doubtful with a knee injury from the Oct. 4 win over Detroit. Freeling was inactive Sunday.
Moton, 32 and in his 10th NFL season, began coughing up blood in late June, and scans found clots in his right lung, the team has reported. He spent three months on blood thinners with no contact allowed and opened the season on the reserve/non-football illness list, for players sidelined by an illness or injury that did not come from football.
Wharton, 28, felt numbness in his hands during spring practices and had surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his neck, he told the team's website. He said a scan on Monday, Oct. 12, cleared him to play. He opened the season on the physically unable to perform list, for players not yet healthy enough to practice. Etienne, 22, a second-year running back, opened the season on injured reserve with an ankle injury.
The team had designated all three to return to practice on Tuesday, Oct. 13, which opened a three-week window to activate them. The team said all three practiced fully each day, and it listed them as questionable on Friday.
On Tuesday the team put defensive tackle Cam Jackson, a second-year player, on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, which the team said left 50 players on the 53-man roster. A player put on injured reserve during the season must miss at least four games. Saturday's three activations filled the roster.
For the game, the Panthers also promoted cornerback Robert Rochell and running back Anthony Tyus III from the practice squad, whose players practice with the team but can play only if signed to the roster or promoted for that week. Promoted players return to the practice squad after the game.
Rochell adds depth at cornerback, where the team has had only three on its 53-man roster since cornerbacks Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson went on injured reserve Sept. 30. With running back AJ Dillon out because of an ankle injury, Tyus gives the team a third running back.
The rest of the week's moves were on the practice squad. On Monday, Oct. 12, the team signed defensive lineman Keith Cooper Jr. and released defensive lineman Anthony Goodlow. On Tuesday it signed Rochell and released outside linebacker Cam Gill.
Carolina's inactives Sunday were Dillon, Freeling, tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders, offensive lineman Torricelli Simpkins III, offensive tackle Albert Reese IV, defensive tackle TeRah Edwards and Haynes King, the emergency third quarterback. The Eagles were without quarterback Jalen Hurts, whom they placed on injured reserve, and running back Saquon Barkley, who was inactive.
The Panthers host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Bank of America Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 25.