It was only two days ago that second-year linebacker Jeremy Cash took what looked to be a nasty shot at first-round running back Christian McCaffrey, prompting head coach Ron Rivera to get upset and yank the former Duke product midway through practice.

But after reviewing film of Sunday's practice and talking with Cash, the Panthers' head coach now has a better understanding of what Cash was attempting to do, and realized nothing was intentional.

Cash actually was juked by McCaffrey so bad that his legs got tangled up, causing him to fall into McCaffrey's lower half.

“I have never had a player tell me: ‘Hey, Coach, he shook me so bad that I fell into him,'" Rivera told the Observer. "He told me that and I almost laughed. But I appreciated the brutal honesty. ... Normally, players don’t want you to know they got shook.”

Luckily for Cash, his rookie season's body of work on the active roster will speak a little louder than one bad tackle attempt at practice when it comes to making the team again in 2017.