After suffering an injury in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against Dallas, the Panthers have officially placed Daryl Williams on injured reserve.
The roster move comes after Williams’ had a Cowboys defender fall onto the side of his knee – the right tackle had rehabbed from a dislocated patella and torn MCL suffered the first weekend of training camp to start Week 1; this injury, different than the one suffered in August, will require surgery for the 2017 second-team All-Pro. The team and Williams are hopeful that he will be able to return at some point this season; with the now absence of tackles Williams, Jeremiah Sirles – released from IR last week – and Matt Kalil – placed on IR the first day of the season, the Panthers were left with newly acquired T Corey Robinson and Amini Silatolu on the depth chart.
Running out of opportunities to use the phrase “the answer is on the roster”, the Panthers reached an agreement with free agent tackle Chris Clark Wednesday morning. Clark has played 106 career games with 53 starts, including ten games in the playoffs. His last team stint was with the Texans where he played in 37 games with 26 starts from 2015-17, including eight last season; Clark had also been a part of the Denver Broncos for five seasons
“The thing about Chris is he’s a veteran guy,” Ron Rivera said about the eight-year vet. “He’s been in this league and started a whole bunch of games in this league and he’s in great shape right now; so we felt really good about bringing a guy in that does things the right way; we had a lot of good reports about him.”
“He got an opportunity to work today and he looked pretty good.”
#74 in your programs, #1 in your hearts – new Panthers T Chris Clark. pic.twitter.com/lAkPJs1pA2
— The Riot Report (@RRiotReport) September 12, 2018
#Texans offensive lineman Chris Clark donating items for flood relief victims. “Such a disaster…all we can do is lend a helping hand” pic.twitter.com/HA6RREs6YN
— Daniel Gotera (@DTGoteraKHOU) August 31, 2017
“I’m excited about getting a chance to play with Cam,” said Clark after practice, adding that he worked at both right and left tackle in practice, although he’s primarily played at left tackle throughout his career. “I think that’s huge; it’s kind of always been something I’ve wanted to do – watching him and how electrifying he is – you appreciate having a guy like that to block for. I’m familiar with some of the calls, so that’s going to help me, so I’m dialed in; I’m going to take a shower and then dial right back in.”
“I told my wife, ‘I’m probably not going to call you tonight.'”
Twitter: @KeepPounDENN