Carolina Panthers place OT Nate Chandler on injured reserve

The Carolina Panthers placed offensive tackle Nate Chandler on the injured reserve on Thusday after he re-injured his surgically repaired knee.

It was yet another hit to the team’s depth at the position.

Going into training camp, the Panthers had their starting tackles in Michael Oher and Mike Remmers and quality depth with Jonathan Martin, Chandler and Daryl Williams.

Martin retired at the start of camp. Williams sprained his MCL last week and won’t be ready for two to four weeks. Then came Chandler’s injury.

Now the Panthers will go into Sunday’s game against Houston with fourth-year guard Amini Silatolu as the primary backup both tackle spots.

Carolina signed veteran free-agent offensive lineman Fernando Velasco, who was with the team last year. Velasco can play guard but was brought in to be the primary backup to center Ryan Kalil, who’s returning from a knee sprain.

With Velasco backing up Kalil, that means Remmers won’t have to slide in from tackle to center if Kalil .

The Panthers wanted to sign a tackle, but it’s slim pickings in the market.

“Believe me we’ve looked out there and we’re scouring the wires and we’re really looking,” Panthers coach Ron Rivera said. “As for now we’ve got Amini as the primary tackle backup with Chris Scott as the emergency tackle backup.

“It really has (been picked over). It’s a hard situation because we’re really looking. We’re just trying to make sure.”

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 5:23 PM with the headline "Carolina Panthers place OT Nate Chandler on injured reserve."