Injuries, especially at the top of the depth chart, often cause ripple effects in the NFL—and the Carolina Panthers have been dealing with quite a few of those recently.
Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor spoke to reporters just a few days ahead of the Week 4 matchup with the Minnesota Vikings—one that will likely see some alterations to his unit due to some setbacks on defense. He was asked how the group can patch themselves together amidst the possible changes, especially if he won’t be able to utilize linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill and safety Sam Franklin as frequently.
Buy Panthers Tickets“You just keep goin’,” he replied. “And next man up—that’s kinda the mantra in the NFL and it’s true. There’s not really much you can do about that. Those guys—they could be playin’ for us, they could not be playin’ for us. I mean, it just happens. It happens all the time during the game.
“I mean, we sustained some injuries in the Seattle game. You just make in-game adjustments and our guys are real good about understanding the importance of it and understanding where the stress is at. And you just gotta get guys ready and that’s what we’ll do today.”
A few injuries from that Week 3 trip to Seattle saw the Panthers lose safety Xavier Woods to a hamstring injury and inside linebacker Frankie Luvu, who was already without his usual starting partner in Shaq Thompson, to a hip pointer. As a result, Grugier-Hill and Franklin—two of Tabor’s premier weapons on special teams—may be moving up into more featured roles on the defensive side of the ball.
Grugier-Hill has already stepped into a starting spot with the absence of Thompson, who will likely be out for the remainder of the season due to a fractured fibula. The same may apply to Franklin sans Woods, who is also expected to miss some extended time.
