Panthers coach Ron Rivera said yesterday that part of the reason wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin was struggling to get on the field could be his weight.
But Panthers General Manager Dave Gettleman said Thursday it wasn’t a big fat deal to him.
“It really is much ado about nothing. Right now he’s only five pounds off his playing weight. That’s it,” Gettleman said, via Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer. “This is what frustrates me sometimes, people want to create news. There’s no news. He’s a few pounds over, that’s all. He’ll be fine. He’ll stay here in July and he’ll be ready to rock and roll.”
Benjamin has missed 10 of 14 OTA sessions and minicamp after a pair of hamstring problems. And there’s clearly some handling going on, as both Rivera and Gettleman spent time talking to the wide receiver on the field Thursday.
“He had two tough breaks,” Gettleman said. “He’s a mentally tough kid. But at the end of the day, we’re about being a family. And families pump each other up.”
And it appears that by talking about Benjamin’s weight, Rivera might have inadvertently answered the “Do these shorts make me look fat?” question, and created a bit of family tension in the process.