The Panthers have placed kicker Graham Gano on injured reserve ahead of the deadline to cut their roster to 53 Saturday, the team announced Friday afternoon. This means that the kicker, who signed a four-year, $17m contract ahead of last season, will not be eligible to return during the 2018 season after a lingering leg injury kept him from kicking for the entirety of the preseason and most of training camp.
Had the Panthers waited until Sunday to place him on injured reserve, Gano would have been eligible to return after Week 8.
“We’re not really supposed to talk about injuries, so I’ll leave that to coach and the trainers,” said the 32-year old Gano after the final preseason game – a game in which he did not kick and watched his replacement, Joey Slye, kick a 59-yarder. “That’s what I’ve been doing every day, just preparing as if I’m gonna get my body healthy and come back and kick. Every day’s the same. I’m showing up early and getting my treatments in and working hard every day.”
“My preference would be to be healthy right now and kicking footballs, but this is what’s been laid before me and I’m just dealing with it the best I can.”
Gano added that the injury to his plant leg was similar to the ailment that landed him on injured reserve for the final four games of last season, but wouldn’t go into further detail when pressed. Ultimately, with Week 1 against the Rams looming, the Panthers decided that the kicker who was Special Teams Player of the Month in October after he made a 63-yard game winner against the New York Giants last season wouldn’t be healthy enough to kick Week 1 and made the move to place him on injured reserve – keeping Gano on the roster during initial roster cuts meant another player would be exposed on waivers.
In his stead, kicker Joey Slye went 6-for-7 in the preseason with his only miss being a 48-yarder that was blocked – the kicker from Virginia Tech was true from three field goals of more than 50+ yards and made all of his extra points. Slye also had the second-highest touchback percentage (87.5%) of any kicker in the NFL during the preseason after only two of his 16 kickoffs were returned.
“Both Graham and the team were optimistic throughout this process that his leg would improve enough to allow him to kick,” general manager Marty Hurney told Max Henson. “Unfortunately, Graham still had pain in his plant leg each time he tried to resume kicking. These are tough decisions, and we discussed all options, but ultimately we decided to place Graham on injured reserve today.”
Gano made 14-of-16 field goals and 30-of-33 extra points in 2018 – his career field goal percentage in seven seasons with the Panthers is 85.5%.
