When Ikem Ekwonu stepped to his locker this week, reporters quickly crowded around the young left tackle. He had missed the Carolina Panthers season opener while recovering from an emergency appendectomy, and with the Arizona Cardinals looming in Week 2, his status is a critical storyline.
The questions came in waves. Was he ready? How was he feeling? Could he go? His response was steady: “I’m stacking up good days.”
For the Panthers, those days need to translate into one very good if Ekwonu is healthy enough to participate. Standing across from him is Cardinals pass rusher Josh Sweat, and for a Panthers team already staring down a potential 0-2 start, the stakes could hardly be higher.