Carolina Panthers: Amini Silatolu to miss time due to knee injury
The Carolina Panthers suffered another injury to their offensive line, this time with left guard Amini Silatolu suffering a knee injury.
Every NFL team will be forced to deal with injuries over the course of a season and the Carolina Panthers are no different. However, the one place they couldn’t really afford to lose starters was on the offensive line.
The Panthers were forced to deal with their first injury early in training camp with Daryl Williams, who suffered a torn MCL and dislocated patella.
On Tuesday, the team saw the second key player on the offensive line leave practice with a knee injury. Amini Silatolu was forced to leave with a knee injury and was later determined to have suffered a torn meniscus, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. He will have surgery on Friday.
Another blow to depth on the #Panthers O-line: OT Amini Silatolu will undergo surgery Friday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, per the team. His return to the field will be evaluated on a week-to-week basis.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 7, 2018
The veteran was competing for the starting left guard position, a position vacated by the departure of Andrew Norwell in free agency this offseason. Silatolu looked to be the favorite, considering he was listed as the starter on the team’s first depth chart.
Silatolu was a second round pick by the Carolina Panthers in the 2012 NFL Draft. He had a promising start to his career, starting 15 games as a rookie for the Panthers.
However, his career never reached it’s full potential due to a number of injuries since entering the NFL. He has dealt with a number of knee injuries over the years, including in 2014 when he was expected to replace right tackle Nate Chandler. He wasn’t able to play due to the injury and lost his chance as Mike Remmers became the eventual starter.
The good news is that this injury is not season-ending and the team will evaluate him on a week-to-week basis as Rapoport notes.
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The Carolina Panthers will play their first preseason game of the season when they travel to Buffalo to face the Bills Thursday night.