Panthers 1st-Round Rookie Breaks Silence on Possible Benching

The Carolina Panthers are going to have a tough decision to make at tackle moving forward. First-round rookie Monroe Freeling might end up seeing the bench despite being healthy, while Taylor Moton and Rasheed Walker start. However, the 19th overall pick is viewing the step back as a learning experience.

He opened up on what he has learned from Moton already.

“I sit right next to him in meetings and see the amount of notes he takes,” said Freeling about what he learned from Moton. “Even if he heard it a 1,000 times and he’s been playing for ten years.”

Freeling noted it is more than just film study and note-taking. He saw how Moton would work on technique at any time of the day.

“Even when he wasn’t even playing, I’d be sitting next to him in the meeting room, and he’d actually be doing (pass blocking) sets, like in his chair,” added Freeling.

Freeling noted that while he wants to start, his goal right now is to watch Moton and get healthy.

Carolina Panthers Rookie Monroe Freeling Opens Up on Injury and Possible Benching

Freeling has a good attitude about where he stands and what his focus is.

“I can sit and be like, I don’t know what I’m doing, or I can sit and be like, well, I know what I can do and that’s get healthy,” said Freeling on his mentality with the possibility of being benched.

After Moton returned in Week 7 and Rasheed Walker played well at left tackle, head coach Dave Canales noted that it will be a challenge for the Panthers rookie to get back into the lineup.

“So that’s a good challenge for Monroe to see how he responds to the training, the treatment, and to see if he shows us how ready he is to play,” said Canales on Monday. “And then how do we play him? So all those questions we have to figure out.”

Freeling noted that he enjoyed watching Moton play for the first time and that he learned a lot.

“It was awesome to see T-Mo because you never really know,” said Freeling. “I don’t really know what to expect. It’s hard to recognize game until you actually see it,” he said. “So actually seeing T-Mo play, just growing some more respect for him as a player. Even though you come back after weeks of not playing, he’s still got it.”

Freeling Could Swing Back to Left Tackle

While he is enjoying learning behind someone with the experience of Moton, his path to starting might be at left tackle now that Moton is back. Walker signed a one-year deal and is just a placeholder. Freeling was expected to push Walker in training camp, but the injury to Moton had him switch to the right side. Still, Freeling made it clear he can still play the left side.

“I don’t think I’m ever gonna forget how to play the left side just considering the amount of reps I have there,” he said. “I’m still gonna have to keep working right (side). You never know what’s gonna happen.”

When Freeling gets healthy, he could switch sides again.

This article was originally published on HEAVY

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