Just to give some context as to when Matt Kalil was put on injured reserve, Greg Olsen had only fractured his fifth metatarsal once in his life, Taylor Moton was starting at left tackle and Daryl Williams was about to regain his spot on the right side after fighting his way back from a dislocated patella suffered in training camp. Kanye West & Lil Pump had yet to release “I Love It” – it was a simpler time.
Fast forward ten days from there, and the Panthers had signed left tackle Chris Clark, who would start at left tackle with only three practices under his belt; fast forward to the next Sunday and the makeshift offensive line would help Christian McCaffrey rush for the fourth-highest total in Panthers franchise history.
So it’s fair to say that things have changed since Kalil was placed on injured reserve after having his right knee scoped in Florida when the 29-year old experienced soreness during training camp and the Panthers second preseason matchup with the Miami Dolphins; the scope occured on August 20th after a visit to Dr. James Andrews.
Kalil was officially eligible to return to practice today after being placed on IR ahead of Week 1, and while he did attend practice, he merely worked on the side in sweats with a large brace on his knee – once Kalil begins practicing, that starts a three-week window in which the team must activate him or lose the ability to designate him to return to the active roster. While Kalil is eligible to return November 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Panthers may be reluctant to activate the tackle who signed a five-year, $55m contract ahead of the 2017 season.
The tackle combination of second-year tackle Taylor Moton and eight-year vet Chris Clark, along with guards Greg Van Roten and Trai Turner with Ryan Kalil anchoring the line at center has combined to allow the second-fewest quarterback hits (18) and sacks (8) in the league through six weeks and rank fourth in terms of rushing yards per game – although they’ve struggled to run the ball efficiently the past two weeks.
While Ron Rivera wouldn’t offer specifics on the left tackle, he did provide an update.
“He’s working with the trainers,” said Rivera after Wednesday’s practice. “They’ve got him on the side now and as each week goes by, [we’ll] just listen to the evaluations and we’ll make decisions based on what the doctors and the trainers are telling us.”
The Panthers play the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at 1p.
