3:14pm: Poe’s season will indeed end early. The veteran defensive tackle has elected to undergo surgery on his quad injury, according to ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson (on Twitter). The former first-round pick will undergo the procedure Tuesday morning.
12:53pm: The Panthers fear that Dontari Poe suffered a torn quadriceps muscle in Sunday’s loss to the Saints (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). Poe is having an MRI to confirm the injury, but the club thinks they already know the result, which will end Poe’s season. 
The Panthers’ thin playoff hopes took a major blow on Sunday with the loss to New Orleans and it figures to be rough sledding the rest of the way without Poe, who was an anchor for the defensive line. Through eleven games (ten starts), Poe notched 4.0 sacks from the interior, plus 22 tackles and seven tackles for a loss. For his work, Pro Football Focus has Poe rated as the No. 40 interior defensive lineman in the league.
The Panthers can be expected to look into DT help between now and Sunday’s game against the Redskins. While they’re at it, they may also shake up the kicker spot by replacing Joey Slye with another leg.
Always seems to happen to the big guys around year 30…