The Panthers traded fourth-year wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin to the Buffalo Bills on Tuesday. We will keep an updated record of what players and coaches have to say about the trade as they move towards playing Atlanta on Sunday.
Damiere Byrd, Wide Receiver
“Being here for three years with Kelvin, we really have gotten to know him as a brother. We’ve spent more time in here, off the field, than we do in games; so we really get to know each other, a family. He’s basically family to us. I wish him the best no matter where he’s at, no matter who he’s playing for. It was a little surprising, I think everyone was surprised, but, you know, stuff like that, it reminds you that this is a business and anything can happen.”
Ed Dickson, Tight End
“I enjoy playing with my brothers, and Kelvin was one of my brothers I played with; I’ve got nothing but respect individually for him. The business aspect took over and it came from above my head, so I couldn’t tell you [the reason for the trade]. At first, initially, it was business. We can’t be upset with it, it can’t let it affect the next day. We had a Wednesday practice today. My message as a veteran player to the young guys and the guys around them is ‘Look, there’s a spot open. Are you going to sit there and dwell on it or are you going to take advantage of the opportunity?'”
Curtis Samuel, Wide Receiver
“It’s not like he passed or nothing. It was great, me and KB had a bunch of good times, a bunch of fun times; it’s going to be great, we’re going to miss him, just the moments we had, the fun, you know, working on the field. But we’ve just got to move on and we’ve got to move forward to the game, preparation for this week. I learned a lot [from Kelvin], just having that dog attitude, when it’s game time, when it’s practice time, when you see the ball go get it and make plays after. He kept emphasizing to me, ‘You’re young, but you’re still learning, you’re getting better every day, so by him just telling me that every day, it kept pushing me along with all the other receivers.”
Head Coach Ron Rivera
“What was done was done in the best interest of this football team, of this organization. Kelvin’s done some terrific things for us and is a heck of a football player. What this does for us is it gives us an opportunity to put some young guys on the field with some speed. Gives us an opportunity to move forward and I think it gives Kelvin an opportunity to start somewhere else as well. So that’s just the way it is. The biggest thing that we did was create an opportunity for some young guys, for some fast guys to get out there on the field. We had two guys with similar skills sets in him and Funch and we have a group of young guys that we need to get on the football field to create some speed and these young guys will get their opportunities.”
“We did something similar to this in 2014 and got some speed on the field and it helped us stretch the field a little bit. We haven’t stretched the field this year. I think there’s some things that compound some things that we want to do as far as running the football. Not being able to stretch the field is part of the reason we’ve seen so much 8-or-9 man boxes. Now there’s an opportunity for us to do something different.”
Quarterback Cam Newton
“I pretty much found out when y’all found out. But I don’t want to dwell on that, obviously an emotional connection, but that can’t be a distraction for our preparation this week. It’s time for us to move forward, however hard it may be, we’ve got a football game left to play. I wish him the best.”
“You can’t replace a Benji. Just like you can’t replace a Fun, just like you can’t replace a Greg Olsen, you can’t replace anybody else that’s on this team. You just have to roll with the punches and make due to it.”
“At the end of the day, it’s a business. Do you think Atlanta cares about that? My feelings are irrelevant, you know what I’m saying, we’ve got one job to do and that’s win football games, and I’m up to that task. It’s hard when you have emotional attachments, and that happened with Benji, that happened with Joe, that happened with a couple guys. I took it hard, but at the end of the day, life goes on; I don’t want no sob story. I don’t think they’re going to have a parade when I leave here. There’s still going to be football on Sunday; protest or no protest, at the end of the day, this person here? That person gone? Still football on Sunday. I’m saying it in a sense that everything moves forward. Just because things that you’re used to aren’t the same, you still have to move forward.”
Kawann Short, Defensive Tackle
“Everybody was surprised, I was surprised. Everyone knows Kelvin’s a hell of a ball player and it was just something that surprised us around here. At the end of the day, we know it’s a business; we know upstairs is doing what they need to do to help downstairs win.”
Luke Kuechly, Linebacker
“I think the things that’s hard about this business is you make such close bonds with guys and we spend a lot of time with each other and it’s hard when one of your buddies leaves, it’s difficult but everybody knows at the end of the day it’s business and the guys upstairs are doing what they think’s best for our team. But at the end of the day, one of your buddies leaves and that’s tough, but like I said, guys understand that it’s a business and it’s not the first time that somebody that we’ve been close with has left. It is what it is, and Kelvin will do a great job up there and those guys upstairs made a decision that was best for our team and we trust those guys, we’ll be alright moving forward.
