An Injury Update and a Jersey Switch for Amaré Barno

Carolina Panthers outside linebacker Amaré Barno continues to work his way back from a knee injury.

Aug 12, 2023; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers linebacker Amare Barno (90) and linebacker Yetur Gross-Matos (97) during pre game warm ups against the New York Jets at Bank of America Stadium. Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports / Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Toward the end of the 2023 season, Carolina Panthers outside linebacker Amaré Barno went down with a knee injury and was placed on injured reserve, forcing him to miss the final two games of the year. With the coaching change and all of the immediate focus being on the coaching search at the end of the year, we hadn't really received an update on Barno's status.

That was until Monday.

"He had a pretty good ACL injury. He's progressing great," Panthers head coach Dave Canales told reporters. "He's on the field doing some straight-line running stuff today. He's been here every day working with our athletic training staff just to build the strength around it, his flexibility. The reports we're getting are great, so he's trending in the right direction. I don't have a specific date, but he is out there working and he's got his cleats on doing stuff, so I'm looking forward to getting him back up to speed so we can get him back in a practice at some point."

Barno saw an 11% increase in defensive snaps last season and even notched his first career start. In 15 games, he recorded 21 tackles and one tackle for loss. When you see him on the field this year, though, he'll be rocking a new number. For the first two years of his career, Barno sported the No. 90 jersey which was made famous by soon-to-be Hall of Famer, Julius Peppers. Currently, Barno is wearing No. 38 - one of the numbers he wore during his tenure at Virginia Tech.

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