Carolina Panthers place left tackle Matt Kalil on injured reserve

The Carolina Panthers announced Sunday afternoon that they have placed left tackle Matt Kalil on injured reserve.

The injuries along the offensive line for the Carolina Panthers this summer has been well-documented. The team lost Daryl Williams and Amini Silatolu early in training camp and then recently had Matt Kalil and Jeremiah Sirles go down with injuries during preseason.

The team announced Sirles would be placed on injured reserve on Saturday and then on Sunday said Matt Kalil would also be placed on injured reserve. The timing of these two moves are key as the Panthers had to wait until 4 PM Sunday to have Kalil be eligible to return after eight games.

Any players placed on injured reserve prior to that, like Sirles, would be forced to sit out the entire season.

The Panthers signed Matt Kalil last offseason during free agency to a 5-year, $55 million contract. He was expected to be the team’s franchise left tackle, a position that has been a need for a number of years.

However, Kalil’s first year for the organization was rocky to say the least and he struggled to regain the form he had earlier in his career with the Minnesota Vikings.

The hope this year would be better and once again the reviews were mixed through training camp and the first two preseason games. However, as Max Henson writes Kalil had his knee scoped prior to the third preseason game and has been out since then.

The fact that the Panthers were willing to put him on injured reserve means they not only want to make sure he has plenty of time to recover but also they are happy with the play of his replacement.

In the preseason game against the Patriots, the team had moved Taylor Moton to left tackle after he was playing right in place of Daryl Williams. It would not be surprising if Moton remains the starter, even after Kalil is healthy enough to return from injured reserve.