At this rate, the Carolina Panthers just might call off all offseason organized team activities.
ProFootballTalk.NBCSports.com reported Tuesday night that Panthers quarterback Cam Newton will undergo ankle surgery on Wednesday and will require about four months' recovery time. That puts his return in the middle of Carolina's 2014 training camp session.
Newton, coming off his highest quarterback rating during his three-year NFL career, hurt the ankle at the end of last season, the Panthers' official Twitter account reported.
"The ankle was sore after the San Francisco game and we wanted to see if rest would calm it down, but it is still bothering him and the decision was made to address it," Panthers head athletic trainer Ryan Vermillion said in a statement from the team, as reported by ProFootballTalk.NBC.com.
Now, Newton will be unable to get in sync with his wide receiver corps before camp. Then again, there wasn't much of a corps left to begin with.
The Panthers' top four receivers from 2013 - Brandon LaFell, Steve Smith, Ted Ginn Jr., and Dominek Hixon all have departed in the offseason. Currently on the Panthers roster are such wide receiving luminaries as Marvin McNutt, Brenton Bersin, Taverres King, Kealoha Pilares, R.J. Webb and Toney Cleamons.
Or as ProFootballTalk.NBCSports.com reports, "The other good news is, there's no risk of losing continuity during OTA practices, since every receiver he knows is gone, and the Panthers are starting from scratch at the position."
Panthers management probably would've like to have seen if one of their unheralded wideouts would step up and secure a roster spot in 2014, but now it looks as though the team must find some more proven talent in NFL free agency or potential talent in the NFL Draft in May.
Either way, the absence of Newton, whose 24 touchdown passes were a career best and 13 interceptions a career low despite a career-worst 3,379 passing yards in 2013, puts another hurdle in the Panthers' preparations for 2014 as they try to build off their 12-4 record last season.
Will the Carolina Panthers be OK without Cam Newton for the next four months? Tell us @SportsWN.
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