Christian McCaffrey returned to practice with the Carolina Panthers on Monday for the first time in five weeks.

It remains to be seen if McCaffrey will play on Thursday night against the Atlanta Falcons.

"It's a possibility,'' coach Matt Rhule said. "That's sort of out of my hands. I'm hopeful that will happen.''

McCaffrey did not participate in Monday's light workout and would have to go through a full practice on Tuesday or Wednesday for the team to consider taking him off injured reserve.

"If you know Christian, he wants to play,'' Rhule said.