According to the report, Kelvin Benjamin suffered a sprained left knee during Wednesday’s joint practice with the Miami Dolphins and will undergo an MRI, will miss the season.
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Panthers coach Ron Rivera said he addressed Benjamin’s injury at a team meeting on Wednesday night, telling players not to lose faith in the season. But Rivera and Philbin are among a group of coaches around the league who have spoken out to curb the fighting that has garnered training camps headlines in an effort to set the tone for workouts.
Benjamin (6-foot-5, 245 pounds) was the 28th overall pick out of Florida State in the 2014 draft and in 16 games last season, had 73 catches for 1,008 yards (13.8 yards a catch) and nine touchdowns, which were all Panthers rookie receiving records.
It wasn’t the plan for Devin Funchess to become the Carolina Panthers’ de facto No. 1 wide receiver out of the gate his rookie year.
Funchess approached his first training camp like a sponge, soaking up any useful bit of advice offered to him, whether it came from a coach or a player.
Benjamin was drafted by the Panthers in the first round in 2014.
“It’s awesome, because we don’t get to see them very often”, said Diane Petrice, a Dolphins fan from Fountain Inn. “It’s unfortunate. It’s one of those things that could have happened in any drill”. Since his highest output in 2007, his performance steadily declined until the increase that occurred last season with the Panthers.
Kelvin Benjamin is an excellent wide receiver. Assuming he does, he’d be on track to play in the third preseason game and show the team he can be part of the solution that Rivera will be looking for in the coming weeks. It was great seeing the staff, equipment guys, trainers who worked on your body and helped you out. Second-year man Corey Brown and veterans Jerricho Cotchery and Ted Ginn should be considered the starters for now.
Later it was revealed the young receiver is done for the season, suffering a torn ACL.
“I didn’t see exactly what happened, but I saw him down on the ground”, Cotchery said. While Funchess could be more like Benjamin, I think that he needs more time to develop at the receiver position before he can be counted on as a No. 1 guy.
For the Jags, though, it may be just what they need to get pas the Panthers.
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In terms of replacements at wide receiver, the Panthers don’t have much.
