Pressure intensifies for Panthers' Princely Umanmielen without Nic Scourton

In the moments after his NFL preseason debut last season, then-rookie Princely Umanmielen sat at his locker studying the box score. The Carolina Panthers' outside linebacker looked confused.

His 2025 draft mate, Nic Scourton, was credited with a sack during the 30-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns at Bank of America Stadium on Aug. 8. Except the former Ole Miss standout couldn't recall the play when he tackled rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders behind the line of scrimmage.

Seeing Scourton return to his locker, Umanmielen paused the start of a conversation. 

"One second," he said. "Nic, you got a sack?"

After hearing the confirmation, Umanmielen curiously dug deeper into the mystery. 

"The one where you pushed him out of bounds ... that was a sack?" he asked. "That's what they are talking about?"

Scourton nodded with a grin.

"That's some $#!%," Umanmielen said.

Throughout their rookie campaigns, the friendly rivalry between the edge prospects continued to grow, despite Scourton eventually earning a starting role and finishing with five sacks, tied for the team high. Umanielen earned 1.5 sacks and forced one fumble last season and was expected to back up Scourton this fall.

Offseason plans can change in a hurry.

Scourton tore his ACL during the Panthers' first 2026 training camp practice Thursday and likely will be lost for the season. As Scourton was carted off the field, the pressure on Umanmielen intensified instantly.

Panthers' Princely Umanmielen under new pressure

Scourton was expected to start on the opposite edge of Jaelan Phillips, with Patrick Jones II and Umanmielen serving rotational roles.

"We have a whole group of guys that we're counting on," Panthers coach Dave Caneles said, as reported by Panthers.com. "I'm proud of the fact that the first thought in guys' minds isn't, 'Are we going to have Nic for the season? It was, 'How is Nic?'

"And guys are checking on him."

After practice, quarterback Bryce Young gathered a group of players for an impromptu prayer session. 

"Nic's our brother," Young said. "When you see someone down, it's just, first off, it's human nature. We all care, we all feel for him. Obviously, as athletes, we're all just praying for him."

MORE: Panthers' rookie Monroe Freeling grinding for Week 1 start

While Umanmielen did not have enough snaps last season to create a gaudy stat line, the 6-foot-4, 244-pounder made a difference when he was on the field. He finished seventh among all rookies by creating a splash play on 8.7 percent of his snaps. Turnovers, sacks, pressures, run stuffs and tackles for loss are listed among splash plays.

With Scourton sidelined, Umanmielen will be pressured to produce more. 

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