Only seven months ago Carolina Panthers QB Jake Delhomme underwent Tommy John surgery. According to reports, if you’ve been to any Panthers practices over the past week you wouldn’t be able to tell that. Reporters have said that his arm looks stronger then ever, and that the team is letting him go all out in practice. Unlike another star quarter back in the league right now, Delhomme is under no “pitch count” at all, pretty remarkable so soon after surgery.

“I can tell he worked out real good; you can see the difference in his body. I’m going to say he looks better”, said WR Steve Smith, “It seems like he has a stronger arm; he’s not showing any signs of weakness with that major surgery.”

This definitely is a good sign for the team and its fans. In baseball, it typically takes players almost a year and a half before they are fully up to strength and playing at a high level, for Delhomme to be only seven months off of surgery throwing like this is just remarkable.

The team was lost most of last season after losing Delhomme to his injury, going through three different quarterbacks. The team attempted to use David Carr, Matt Moore and Vinny Testaverde. None of them were outstanding, but still the team was able to get a 7-9 record. Granted 4 of those wins came in the first 6 weeks, so the total is somewhat misleading. Moore was probably the most effective out of the trio, but none of them could avoid turning the ball over. Protecting the football is one of Delhomme’s strength and should be a huge boost for the Panthers offense next season. Before his injury last season he had totaled 8 touchdowns and just 1 interception.

There is one thing that definitely hasn’t changed, Delhomme still can’t over throw Smith. “Uh, you know, he can’t out-throw me; he’s never really out-thrown me, so that hasn’t changed,” Smith said.

Having a Delhomme healthy will also stabilize the offense, for the pure fact that there will be some stability at the position. With that being said, I’m surprised the Panthers are letting him go all out and not trying to protect him some before training camp.

Here’s a couple links for more Panthers news. Charlotte Observer and The Herald Online. The photo is courtesy of the NY Times.

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