Mike Tolbert

Panthers RB Jonathan Stewart (foot) missed practice again Thursday. Ron Rivera said that Stewart isn’t going to play this week. The Panthers have talked about giving him rest down the stretch, but they don’t have home field advantage locked up at this point. Complicating matters, it’s not completely clear who is the best start with Stewart out. There was an ESPN report in early December that Cameron Artis-Payne would take over as the lead back, but he hasn’t even been active the last few weeks, and continues to play behind Mike Tolbert and Fozzy Whittaker. If Stewart sits, we’d probably get a three-headed committee. Of the 75 non-Stewart carries this year, Tolbert has seen 45 (60%), Whittaker 18 (24%) and Artis-Payne 12 (16%), but Artis-Payne hasn’t been active lately. Last week, Whittaker out-touched Tolbert 9-to-8, but the game was a blowout, so don’t read too much into it.