The Carolina Panthers may have earned a 36-22 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, but the win certainly came at price.
34 year old wide receiver Adam Thielen exited the contest with what the club is calling a “severe” hamstring injury, and has subsequently been placed on injured reserve. Meanwhile, safety Jordan Fuller suffered a groin injury in his team’s win and has also been placed on IR, meaning the Panthers will be down at least two starters for the next 4 weeks.
Thielen is believed to have tweaked his hamstring after hauling in a 31 yard touchdown pass from Andy Dalton just before halftime. The veteran wideout was one of the few bright spots for Carolina in 2023, leading the team with 103 receptions for 1,014 yards and 4 TDs.
For his part, Fuller had started each of the Panthers 3 contests so far in 2024 since joining the team from the Los Angeles Rams. The 26 year old has 8 solo tackles, and 7 assisted tackles thus far in Carolina’s secondary.
With an already thin roster becoming even thinner still, the Panthers promoted undrafted WR Jalen Coker and safeties Demani Richardson and Russ Yeast from their practice squad. They also waived TE Messiah Swinson to make room on their active roster.
Rookie wide receiver Xavier Legette and sophomore Jonathan Minto are expected to take on more prominent roles on offence in the meantime, while veteran defensive back Nick Scott will see increased snaps on the defensive side of the ball.
Carolina is next in action against the winless Bengals on Sunday in a 1pm ET kickoff.
Photo: Kyle Tsui. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.