Carolina Panthers still uneasy with punting situation

With a knee injury to veteran punter Mike Scifres and a relative unknown in Kasey Redfern, the Carolina Panthers aren’t in the best position at punter heading into Week 1.

Coach Ron Rivera said Sunday that Scifres injured his kicking leg early in Friday’s exhibition against New England and is being examined by a doctor.

Redfern, 24, is in his third preseason with NFL teams, but he has never punted in a regular-season game.

“He’s a young guy and you’re never really comfortable with young guys,” Rivera said. “But the truth of the matter is, if that’s what we have then that’s what we’re going to do.”

Redfern is the fourth punter the Panthers have signed since opting not to re-sign Brad Nortman during the offseason. Carolina initially signed Swayze Waters and Michael Palardy but has since cut both of them.

Interestingly, a report out of Denver Sunday afternoon states Britton Colquitt, the Broncos’ seventh-year punter, is on the trading block. Colquitt has reportedly been asked to take a cut in pay from his $3.25 million deal this season.

The Broncos drafted a rookie punter in the seventh round of this year’s draft and they’ll only keep one of them.

This story was originally published August 28, 2016 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Carolina Panthers still uneasy with punting situation."