After the high of getting their first win this past weekend, it’s a tough swing back down as the Panthers will see starting left guard Damien Lewis miss at least one game with an elbow injury, per Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report. Schultz tells us that, while Lewis will likely avoid a stint on injured reserve, he will have to miss some time.
While the quarterback play has suffered up until this past week, Carolina has seen some pretty solid offensive line play so far this season. In fact, Lewis, who grades out as the 25th-best guard in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), has, so far, graded out as the team’s fifth-best player on offense. Lewis is the only one who’s missed time on an otherwise stalwart line, with Chandler Zavala filling in during Lewis’s short absence.
A tear in Lewis’s elbow will likely require Zavala’s presence once again. While he will definitely miss one game, Lewis plans to eventually play through the injury. The team will miss his play, but the hope is that he won’t be gone for long.
Here are a couple other injury updates from around the NFL:
- The Seahawks have enjoyed the benefits of a talented defensive line this season, one that has been boosted by the contributions of rookie first-round defensive tackle Byron Murphy. The second defensive player taken off the board last April, Murphy is expected to miss some time with a hamstring injury, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. Seattle doesn’t intend to put him on IR for now, but they’ll be decidedly careful not to rush the rookie back.
- Late in the team’s win over the Texans this past weekend, the Vikings experienced a scare when starting quarterback Sam Darnold took a low hit from former Minnesota-favorite Danielle Hunter. Darnold limped to the sideline, where he sat out one play before running back onto the field. Tests on Monday revealed a bruise but no structural damage to Darnold’s left knee, according to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. The team will experience a collective sigh of relief to realize that their quarterback avoided serious injury just weeks after that of rookie first-round quarterback J.J. McCarthy.