News: BTB: Panthers lose starting right tackle Daryl Williams to knee injury in training camp

[NewsBot]

Bad news for the Panthers.

Training camp is a celebration for football fans signaling the regular season is just around the corner. What little insight we can get into new formations, schemes, and breakout players fill up our Twitter timelines as we get ready for the new season.

Injuries, however, can put a damper into the excitement. Carolina Panthers fans are going through that right now, as starting right tackle Daryl Williams suffered a severe knee injury early into training camp that looks to keep him off of the field for the foreseeable future. The Cowboys open the season against the Panthers, so this injury is relevant for Dallas.

This does not look good at all. Daryl Williams with his right knee in a brace being carted off. pic.twitter.com/s2VGXQ0dJA

— Joe Person (@josephperson) July 28, 2018​

Adam Schefer later reported on Saturday that Williams’ injury has been announced as a dislocated right patella, while the Oklahoma Sooners product also tore the medial collateral ligament in his right knee. That’s not good news, obviously, for one the men tasked with protecting Cam Newton and company.

Panthers announced that OT Daryl Williams dislocated his right patella and tore the medial collateral ligament in his right knee.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 28, 2018​

We hope that Williams has a quick and healthy recovery.

We never root for injury, but now that it is here it should benefit the Cowboys. Dallas opens the season on the road in Charlotte against the 2015 league MVP and a team that played in the postseason this past year. Williams was a staple along the Panthers’ offensive line in 2017, only missing one single snap during the entire 17-game season. In fact, he was graded as one of the eight best offensive linemen across the entire NFL last season by Pro Football Focus.

8. DARYL WILLIAMS, T, CAROLINA PANTHERS – 86.2 OVERALL GRADE

PFF Elite Stat: On 458 snaps in pass protection, Williams has given up just three sacks.

One of the surprises of the 2017 season has been the play of Daryl Williams at right tackle for the Carolina Panthers. The team had been high on him in the past, but we had seen little to suggest there was anything to that until this year. After a slow start, he has been as good as any tackle in the game since Week 4, and has been particularly impressive as a pass blocker, surrendering just 28 total pressures on the season, eight of which came in those first three games before he found his form. He has now gone seven straight games without allowing a sack.
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It appears that Taylor Moton is next in line for the right tackle duties for Carolina. Morton, who played collegiately at Western Michigan, was a second-round selection in the 2017 NFL Draft.

You know that DeMarcus Lawrence and company have to be licking their chops at this news. Lawrence became a terror for opposing offensive linemen last year as he brought down the quarterback 14.5 times in 2017. Playing on the franchise tag, Tank will look to open up the 2018 campaign with a boom. It just became a little bit easier for him to do just that.

Kony Ealy will likely also be looking to have an impressive outing against his former team. The Panthers’ second-round pick back in 2014 played his first three professional seasons in North Carolina, where he made 14 sacks and had a Super Bowl-MVP worthy of a game from a defensive players when he sacked Peyton Manning three times, forced one fumble, recovered another, and even picked off a pass back in Super Bowl L. Can Rod Marinelli bring the best out of the Mizzou product?

We’re only about five weeks until the Cowboys and Panthers kick off, and this is certainly a noteworthy development.

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