Taylor Moton to miss start of 2026 NFL season due to blood clots: What it means
The Carolina Panthers are going to be without long-time starting right tackle Taylor Moton to begin the 2026 NFL season.
The Panthers announced they had placed Moton on the non-football injury (NFI) list ahead of training camp after the 31-year-old was diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung in late June.
Moton was "immediately placed on blood thinners" after the diagnosis and "is responding well to treatment," as the team's official website reports. He will continued to be assessed daily by the team's medical staff but he is expected to miss regular-season action because of it.
The good news? Moton is "expected to return during the season." Still, the timetable for him doing so remains unclear.
Moton was a second-round pick by the Panthers in the 2017 NFL Draft and has been the team's primary starter at right tackle since 2018. The 6-5, 325-pound blocker is coming off a strong 2025 season, during which he graded as Pro Football Focus' 14th offensive tackle among 84 qualifiers in 2025 while committing five penalties and allowing three sacks.
Moton has only once graded worse than 23rd among offensive tackles over the last eight seasons, so losing him will be a blow for the Panthers. It also means Carolina will be down both its starting offensive tackles to begin the 2026 season, as Ikem Ekwonu is expected to miss most - if not, all - of the campaign after suffering a torn patellar tendon in the team's playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
The good news for the Panthers? They invested heavily in the offensive tackle position during the 2026 offseason. Carolina signed Rasheed Walker - a three-year starter at left for the Green Bay Packers - to a one-year deal in free agency and spent its first-round pick on Monroe Freeling, a 6-7, 315-pound blocker from Georgia with great movement skills and flexibility.
Originally, it was believed Walker and Freeling would compete for the starting left tackle spot. Now, Walker can be charged with holding down that role while Freeling can compete with veteran swing tackle Stone Forsythe to replace Moton on the right side of the line early in the season.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Taylor Moton to miss start of 2026 NFL season due to blood clots: What it means