Carolina Panthers put Charles Johnson on short-term IR, sign another DE
With Charles Johnson on the injured reserve for the next eight weeks, the Carolina Panthers decided adding just one defensive end wasn’t enough.
After signing Jared Allen on Monday, the Panthers also signed Ryan Delaire from Washington’s practice squad on Wednesday to bolster the pass rush.
Carolina used its one short-term IR designation on Johnson, who suffered a strained hamstring during last week’s victory over New Orleans.
The injury may not have kept Johnson out for eight weeks, but Panthers coach Ron Rivera and his staff decided it was best to use the designation on Johnson.
“He was disappointed, upset. But when you sit down and talk to him about the value of him getting right ... ,” Rivera said. “The one thing we talked about was, no matter how you look at it, this is going to be a long time. Now we can sit there and try to get you back out there sooner than you should be and then you hurt it again and we lose you for the year. Or we can take our time, make sure you’re right, get you 100 percent and then we have a nice little push (at the end of the season) that we have a chance for.”
Johnson could return for the Thanksgiving Day game against the Dallas Cowboys. That would make him fresh for the month of December, where the Panthers have done well under Rivera.
Carolina is 15-4 in the month of December with Rivera as head coach, including a 4-0 December that sent them to the playoffs last year. Rivera credited the play of Johnson and right tackle Mike Remmers for helping the Panthers to the undefeated December in 2014.
“As we talked about it I could see he started to understand and relaxed a little bit,” Rivera said. “My excitement is we get him back at the right time, we get him going into Dallas and he’ll be fresh and ready to roll.”
Delaire is a 6-foot-4, 265-pound end who went undrafted this year out of Towson. He signed with Tampa Bay but was released before final roster cutdowns in September. He signed with Washington and spent the first three weeks of the regular season on its practice squad.
Rivera wasn’t sure Delaire would be active this week against the Buccaneers but said that when he’s ready, Delaire could play as many as 20 snaps a game at both left and right defensive end for Carolina.
To make room for Delaire, the Panthers released veteran defensive tackle Colin Cole, 35, who was inactive in last week’s game with the return of Star Lotulelei and the emergence of Kyle Love.
This story was originally published September 30, 2015 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Carolina Panthers put Charles Johnson on short-term IR, sign another DE."