Panthers linebacker DJ Johnson will miss the group’s season finale after sustaining a concussion in a automotive accident and being positioned on the reserve/non-football harm checklist.
The 2-car accident occurred this week on Rama Highway in south Charlotte, based on The Athletic, and head coach Dave Canales instructed reporters that Johnson’s situation — which didn’t require emergency medical personnel to move him from the scene — isn’t life-threatening.
“We kind of gathered information over the last, really, night and morning,” Canales instructed reporters Friday, whereas additionally acknowledging that he hadn’t seen Johnson after the accident. “That’s pretty much what I know about it. Enough to the point where he’s in evaluation right now.”
Earlier this season, Carolina backup quarterback Andy Dalton and his household — his spouse, his three youngsters and the household’s canine — had been concerned in a automotive accident, and whereas nobody within the automotive was transported away from the scene by paramedics, Dalton sustained a sprained thumb and was inactive for the Panthers’ subsequent sport towards the Broncos on Oct. 27.
Johnson, the Panthers’ third-round decide within the 2023 draft, has began two video games for them this season — showing in 14 — after beginning two others and logging 13 appearances as a rookie exterior linebacker.
In 2024, one other dismal marketing campaign the place the Panthers began 1-7 and now have a 4-12 file, Johnson had 44 complete tackles, three tackles for loss and a half-sack — with complete defensive snaps for the season leaping from 29 p.c in 2023 to 40 p.c in 2024.
He additionally logged 17 p.c of Carolina’s particular groups snaps this season.
“I think he’s definitely one of the best edge setters that we have out there,” Panthers linebacker Jadeveon Clowney mentioned of Johnson in August, based on Athlon Sports activities. “Setting the sting stopping the run. DJ Positively deliver that physicality to the sport and also you want that out of the fellows round you. It’s a bodily sport. That is most undoubtedly what you’re gonna must cease working this league is physicality.“
The Panthers, positioned for an additional top-10 draft decide getting into the NFL’s ultimate week of the common season, journey to face the Falcons on Sunday after falling to Atlanta, 38-20, in Week 6.
