CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey did not participate in practice Thursday and is now not expected to play in Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos.
“I’m going to monitor it. At this time, I do not expect him to play, but I’ll continue to monitor it,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said Thursday.
McCaffrey was limited in practice Wednesday after tweaking a quad injury that he had suffered during the bye week. Rhule said the original injury had taken place while McCaffrey was training.
“At this point I don’t know,” Rhule said Wednesday when asked about McCaffrey’s status for Sunday’s game. “We’ll have to monitor it day by day. I think he might have tweaked it last week. It felt good going into today and then got out there and it got tight on him.”
McCaffrey spoke with the media Monday and said, “I feel great,” but declined to confirm if he would definitively play in Sunday’s game. The tweaking of the injury changed things.
The running back has missed nine games this season and was expected to return to face Denver. McCaffrey is also continuing to recover from a shoulder injury that he suffered on the final drive of the team’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 8.
He has missed the last three games and missed six earlier in the season due to a high ankle sprain.
