Ron Edwards News

As Cam Newton galloped on to the practice field flashing that contagious smile, his teammates fell in line behind him for the start of drills.

Cam Newton jokes with running backs DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart as the three make their way to the practice fields at the Carolina Panthers training facility in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, May 24, 2012.

Panthers' fans can exhale. It turns out Davis had a dental appointment, and had not re-injured his thrice-repaired ACL.

As the Carolina Panthers enter their first OTAs since 2012 and coach Ron Rivera's first full offseason with the team - they do so with a team that has improved in some areas and maintained the status quo in others, thanks to a handful of curious offseason front-office decisions.

In the second part of the Observer's Q&A with Ron Rivera, the Panthers' coach discusses the upcoming OTAs , how communication lapses hurt the defense last year, the return of linebackers Jon Beason and Thomas Davis from surgery and competition at the No.

At the beginning of last season very few suspected that Cam Newton and the Panther's offense would have the kind of production that they did.

A few days ago Jaxon took a look at Football Outsiders' AGL ranking , or 'Adjusted Games Lost'. Essentially this is a metric that measures the effect of an injury on a team's ability to win a game.

There probably isn't a defensive coordinator in the league who has faced more criticism than Sean McDermott the past two seasons.

Every Friday I'll ask for NFC South questions to be submitted via e-mail or Twitter.