Taylor Moton’s return lasted barely more than a game. The Carolina Panthers right tackle fractured his fibula in the third quarter of Sunday’s 43-13 home loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and head coach Dave Canales said afterward that the 32-year-old will be gone for a while.
Canales would not put a number on it. Asked whether the injury ends Moton’s season, he said the team does not know yet, only that the absence will be an extended one. “Just sick for T-Mo,” Canales said after the game.
#Panthers OT Taylor Moton has a fractured fibula, per coach Dave Canales. He’s out indefinitely. pic.twitter.com/RTsNktZdkY
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 25, 2026
The injury came on a third-quarter sack of Bryce Young by Yaya Diaby. Left tackle Rasheed Walker, engaged with his own block, toppled onto the back of Moton’s legs. Moton went straight to the ground, grabbed his left leg and hit the turf with his fist before he was taken off on a cart. He did not return.
A comeback cut short
The timing is what makes this one hurt in Charlotte. Moton missed the first four games of the season after doctors discovered several blood clots in his right lung in late June, a scare that also revealed dangerously high blood pressure. He spent roughly three months on blood thinners, was cleared for contact in mid-October, and the Panthers opened his 21-day practice window on October 13. He was back in the lineup a week ago against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Before this year, Moton had been one of the most durable linemen in football: 145 appearances out of a possible 146 across his first nine seasons, and a starter in all but one game over the last eight. Only Jordan Gross has started more games on the offensive line in franchise history.
Freeling back at right tackle on a short week
Monroe Freeling, the rookie who opened the season as Carolina’s right tackle while Moton recovered, took over again on Sunday and will keep the job. Freeling had carried a questionable tag into the weekend on Friday’s report, so his own health is worth watching this week.
Carolina does not have much time to sort it out. The Panthers, now 3-3, play on Thursday night, which means estimated practice reports early in the week rather than full sessions. Two edge rushers were already missing on Sunday, Jaelan Phillips with a hamstring injury and Thomas Incoom, now on injured reserve with a calf problem, while the offense turned the ball over four times in a game Tampa Bay led 33-6 at halftime.
The Panthers have not announced a roster move for Moton. A move to injured reserve would keep him out for at least four games. Follow every designation on our NFL injury report and the Game Center from Sunday’s loss.
What comes next
Carolina visits the Green Bay Packers on Thursday, October 29, at 8:15 p.m. EDT. Tampa Bay, 2-5 after the win, hosts the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, November 1, at 1:00 p.m. EST.
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