How this week’s injury report affects our picks
The Carolina Panthers have quietly become one of the most interesting—and hardest to pick—teams in the NFL. Andy Dalton is leading a fun offense. They may not be firing on all cylinders just yet, but the engine is getting notice on the block nonetheless. The defense, on the other hand, started with a bare cupboard and has only watched its hinges rust and the doors fall off from the jump.
Let’s take a look at how this week’s rash of devastating injuries is going to affect the Week 5 outlook:
Shaq Thompson
All of the oxygen this week is being consumed by the news of Shaq Thompson landing on injured reserve with a torn achilles. This is a devastating injury for the 30-year old linebacker whose major calling card early in his career was his speed.
Thompson, however, has already vowed on social media that he will be back. He did that Monday amidst swirling speculation that he would retire. Fortunately for him, he has great inspiration in the building for how to return from both a late-career achilles and back-to-back season ending injuries.
Former linebacker Thomas Davis famously tore three ACL’s in the same knee in consecutive years.He returned to Pro Bowl form for the Panthers. Steve Smith tore his achilles tendon in his first season with the Baltimore Ravens, at the ripe old age of 36, and returned to play at a high level the next season.
There is a chance that Thompson is back with the Panthers next season, but whether or not it is with the Panthers is anybody’s guess at this point.
Shy Tuttle and Josey Jewell
The Panthers other starting inside linebacker, Jewell, and a starting defensive lineman in Tuttle, have both been quietly injured as well. Tuttle has missed two games with a foot injury so far and Jewell left the Cincinnati Bengals game with groin and hamstring injuries.
Basically, the Panthers are going to be starting you on defense before the season is out. Starting working out.
The bottom line
The good news of this situation is that the Panthers defense can hardly get much worse than we’ve seen so far. What are they going to do, allow opposing teams to score twice on every drive?
The team remains a risky pick at any odds going forwards. It will take the return of not only Tuttle and Jewell, but also starting cornerback Dane Jackson, and potentially starting edge players Amare Barno and D.J. Wonnum for this team to sniff being competitive.
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