APThe return of linebacker Jon Beason from an Achilles injury is a key to the Panthers defense this season.
Beason missed all of last year and Carolina’s defense suffered in his absence. Getting him back is reason to believe the Panthers can build on last year’s gains and challenge for a playoff spot.
Once you know all that, losing Beason for part of Wednesday’s practice because of an achy hamstring is obviously concerning. Beason hurt his hamstring during practice and then skipped the team’s evening walkthrough while receiving treatment. There’s no word on his prognosis, but the Charlotte Observer reports that the Panthers still hope that Beason can play on Saturday against the Texans.
Although you can understand the desire to get Beason back into game action, pushing him so soon after even a minor tweak would be surprising. Hamstring issues can linger and they can get worse. Beason’s importance to the defense is such that the team needs to do whatever it can to ensure he’s on the field for the regular season and that means avoiding the risks that you can avoid without hurting your team. If that means pushing back Beason’s preseason debut, so be it.
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Hopefully Jon Beason is ok.One of the best LBs in the NFL right now.
And he’s not the only one. CBs Brandon Hogan (knee) and Josh Norman (hammy), Thomas Davis (calf – according to him, NOTHING wrong with the knee), Steve Smith (bruised knee) have all missed significant time in camp. Panthers swear none of them are seriously hurt.
Why am I worried? Because that’s exactly what they said about Jeff Otah each of the last 3 camps prior to this one. Always held out “as a precaution” up to the day they put him on IR.
If this keeps up, Kalil is going to have to put another full-page ad in the Charlotte Observer, this time asking for elite doctors and surgeons to move to Charlotte…
Glad we picked up Kuechly
And with Cam spending so much energy worrying about his brand and gold digging gals chasing after him, the Cats could be headed for a 4-12 season this year.
On a more serious note, it sure seems like there are a LOT more injuries in camp this year.
Hope he’s okay. The difference between these guys’ injury and Jeff Otah is they actually want to play. Beason get itchy to get back on the field, hence the ACL injury last season, he was hurt going into week one and pushed too hard. I hope they play it safe, I’d hate to see him end up like Thomas Davis, incredibly good on the field but mostly off of it.