The Carolina Panthers are already in must-win territory entering their Week 2 road game against the Arizona Cardinals. And the status of stud left tackle Ikem Ekwonu remains key to their chances of gaining a positive result.
Ekwonu missed Carolina's regular-season opener versus the Jacksonville Jaguars. The No. 6 overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft wasn't risked as he recovers from an emergency appendectomy. Yosh Nijman took his place on the blindside, which represented a massive downgrade that impacted proceedings greatly.
Carolina Panthers look set to welcome back Ikem Ekwonu for crucial Week 2 clash
This was the right call, especially as Ekwonu didn't practice throughout the week. The Panthers have ramped up his workload before their trip to State Farm Stadium, and head coach Dave Canales was cautiously optimistic about the player's outlook this weekend.
"It was great. We just ramped him up every day and got him a few more reps each time, he finished off a great practice today [Friday], but again we have to just kind of still take this thing a day at a time to see how he wakes up tomorrow after accumulating a couple of days of work."Dave Canales via Panthers.com
The Panthers officially listed Ekwonu as questionable for the clash. This was an upgrade on his doubtful designation in Week 1, and optimism only grew after an encouraging update from senior insider Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.
Fowler revealed that Ekwonu is expected to play against the Cardinals. This was confirmed by beat reporters closer to the team, with Mike Kaye from The Charlotte Observer proclaiming that the player and Canales were both feeling positive about his participation.
Source confirms said expectation.
— Mike Kaye (@mike_e_kaye) September 13, 2025
Canales and Ekwonu both were pretty optimistic about this outcome.
A desert debut. https://t.co/63mWH9bqzZ
This is a major boost for the Panthers at a time when morale is already starting to slip. Ekwonu's crushing ability on running plays and his improving pass protection were sorely missed versus the Jaguars. Having him involved is a major positive, but a stiff challenge awaits the blindside enforcer to kick off his regular-season exploits.
The Cardinals have free-agent signing Josh Sweat and 2024 first-round pick Darius Robinson as their pass-rushing threats from the edge. One is far more accomplished than the other, but both have to be accounted for effectively. Having Ekwonu on the field doesn't guarantee anything. Still, it improves the Panthers' hopes of nullifying this threat.
Carolina has to perform better offensively. Bryce Young getting his trusted left tackle back into the mix is only going to help his cause. Whether it's enough to secure a morale-boosting win on the road is another matter.