Eric Reid to start first game with Carolina when team hosts against New York Giants

Newly-signed safety Eric Reid will start his first game with Carolina on Sunday when the team hosts against the New York Giants, Panthers head coach Ron Rivera announced Friday.

Reid, who signed with the team last Thursday after five seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, has received first-team reps this week at practice and is poised to play his first game since 2017.

"We're going to keep an eye on him," Rivera said of Reid's conditioning challenge after not playing in over a year. "We'll see how he does the first couple series, try and gauge that and go from there. We really don't want to overuse him. We want to be smart about it -- we want this for the long haul."

Reid was the first player to kneel alongside then-teammate Colin Kaepernick during the national anthem last season in protest of social injustice. Reid remained unsigned as a free agent until the Panthers added him last week to replace injured safety Da'Norris Searcy.

Reid, 26, has declined to say whether he will protest during the anthem moving forward.

In 70 NFL games over five seasons (69 starts, all with the 49ers), Reid had 10 interceptions, 327 tackles and 36 passes defended.