The Carolina Pathers’ outlook for the upcoming NFL season plummited after hearing that star wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin suffered a torn ACL and will not play all year.
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The 24-year-old wide receiver headed to Charlotte for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which later revealed a torn ACL that will make him miss the entire season.
“Obviously, we feel bad for Kelvin”, general manager Dave Gettleman said in a news release. “He is labored tremendously exhausting to place himself in a positon to have a robust yr. We’re assured he’ll assault his surgical procedure and rehab with the identical willpower he has met all challenges earlier than”.
Benjamin went down doing a one-on-one drill in a joint practice with the Miami Dolphins. Branden Albert (knee) was in uniform but worked in drills that were against other Dolphins players.
Carolina wasn’t the only team that suffered a loss during that joint practice with Miami. Benjamin came on strong after being a first-round pick out of Florida State University in 2014, catching 73 passes for 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns. “There was a gradual buildup and progression that I think we were comfortable with as a coaching staff, our medical staff was comfortable with, and most important the player was too”. “If Coach Philbin said anything to our guys it was as if I were talking”.
The Dolphins are taking their training camp on the road.
The Panthers are woefully thin at wide receiver, and Benjamin’s injury could have a negative impact on Newton’s value, which stood as a top-10 fantasy quarterback. We don’t want these things to happen, but when they do, somebody has to step up and take advantage of it. It’s not about us being one player.
Carolina’s offense struggled some after Benjamin left the practice. In Ted Ginn and Corey Brown, the Panthers have two wideouts who can stretch defenses with their speed, while Jerricho Cotchery, Brenton Bersin and Jarrett Boykin can work underneath coverage.
Benjamin put no weight on his left leg as he went to the cart. The Panthers have plenty of speed in Ginn and Brown.
The Jags and Panthers, bonded together as expansion teams back in the 1995 season, get to check their progress in the first game of the season and it was looking to be a great clash between a playoff team and a rebuilding team surging back to relevancy.
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Suddenly, Carolina’s pursuit of a third consecutive title in a division on the rise – the only possible direction after the Panthers won the NFC South past year with a 7-9 record – seems futile.
