When Greg Olsen broke his left foot for the second time in two years during the Panthers Week 1 win over the Bears, the hope was that he would be able to return in 4 to 5 weeks. That would place him back somewhere within their 3 week stretch of NFC East opponents that begins this Sunday with the New York Giants.

That prediction, however, was seen as largely optimistic until rumors last week started to circulate that Olsen was healing “ahead of schedule.” While we will have to wait for Wednesday to see the Panthers first official injury report this week, we have received some confirmation that Olsen is doing more than just conditioning work on the sidelines:

Lost in yesterday’s Eric Reid/Curtis Samuel shuffle pic.twitter.com/i2FKpHTkjW — Bill Voth (@PanthersBill) October 2, 2018

He may not be in a helmet yet, but he is also not wearing a boot. I was always taught that practice made you better, but I never imagined that applied to healing from a broken foot.