Team news: Carolina Panthers

An ankle injury suffered in Sunday's loss at Miami will cost Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey the rest of the season.

An MRI Monday morning revealed an injury severe enough to place him on injured reserve. Because of the time it would take to recover, and because it will be his second time on injured reserve this season, the news means McCaffrey will miss out on the Panthers' final five regular season games after the bye week.

Related players: Chuba Hubbard, Ameer Abdullah, Browns1" class="player_name_link">Spencer Brown

It was reported earlier today that McCaffrey's ankle injury wasn't that serious and he could return after the bye week, but the MRI changed the mind of the team. It's certainly not a surprise as McCaffrey has found it hard to stay on the field this year. With the team in a freefall and the season winding down, there wasn't much incentive to bringing McCaffrey back after another injury even if he was healthy. Hubbard will now take over as the team's lead back and has flashed earlier this season as the RB1.

Sam Darnold is closing in on the short end of that recovery window and Matt Rhule said that he has resumed throwing on the side. The Panthers have a bye this week and Rhule said they’ll evaluate Darnold once they’re back from the time off.

Related players: Cam Newton, P.J. Walker

“We’ll get him back next week, see where he’s at in his process and go from there,” Rhule said, via Joseph Person of TheAthletic.com, from the story. As we posted earlier, the Panthers have committed to starting Newton against the Falcons in Week 14 and Newton hopes to have a fuller grasp of the offense for that outing. If that doesn’t happen, Darnold could find his way back into consideration as the Panthers start to look toward the quarterback decisions they’ll have to make before the 2022 season, according to the story.

"Yeah, I'm not making any changes or anything like that right now. The other day we weren't protecting the quarterback worthwhile at all. Didn't seem fair to keep Cam Newton in there getting hit," HC Matt Rhule said.

Related players: P.J. Walker

The Panthers have a bye in Week 13 but expect to come back in Week 14 with Newton under center. Rhule said it was more of a chance to protect Newton but also get Walker some playing time.

Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey rolled his ankle in the loss to the Dolphins in Week 12.

Related players: Chuba Hubbard

McCaffrey rolled his ankle and left the stadium in a walking boot, according to reports. Rapoport is saying it's considered a minor injury and because the team has a bye in Week 13, CMC may end up not missing any time. With the Panthers fading fast, though, and McCaffrey seemingly not able to stay on the field, the team could use extra caution so fantasy owners will really want to track this. Grab Hubbard if he ended up back on the waiver wire.

Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey was spotted in a walking boot after rolling his ankle during Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins, a game in which Cam Newton was benched.

Just an ugly day all around for the Panthers. Newton went 5/21 for 92 yards and two interceptions before the team turned to P.J. Walker, who was not very effective himself, going just 5/10 for 87 yards and an interception of his own. McCaffrey getting injured again doesn’t help matters either. He finished with just 35 yards on ten carries. Carolina is now 5-7 after the 33-10 thumping to the suddenly hot Miami Dolphins, who have now won four straight after a 1-7 start. That 3-0 start feels like forever ago for the Panthers, who have lost seven of nine since. Carolina finally has their bye next week, giving McCaffrey time to rest before a grueling homestretch that includes the Falcons, Saints, Bills and two games against the Buccaneers.

Panthers HC Matt Rhule told reporters Friday that QB Cam Newton will start Week 11 against the Washington Football Team.

Newton is a lock in two-QB and Superflex formats against one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

Cam Newton will get most of the first-team reps this week in preparation for the Washington Football Team, Matt Rhule says. It has been expected that Newton will start against WFT.

Related players: Phillip Walker

No shocking news here as Cam came in a stole a couple of TD opportunities away from Walker, one on a run and another a pass, both deep in the red zone. Newton can be viewed a QB2 in deeper leagues and superflex leagues and is worth a pickup if he's still on your wire in these types of leagues.

The Carolina Panthers are moving forward with the thought process that QB Sam Darnold (shoulder) will not play again this season and will give Cam Newton a chance to be the starter in 2022.

According to Schefter, one source said the Panthers "know Sam is out for the season", leading to the Panthers giving the contract they did to Newton, which includes incentives for playoff wins. He also has a chance to grab hold of the Panthers' starting QB job in 2022. PJ Walker will start today against the Cardinals while Newton gets up to speed, potentially making his official return to the Panthers' lineup next week against his former coach, Ron Rivera, and the Washington Football Team.

The Carolina Panthers have placed QB Sam Darnold (shoulder) on IR.

Related Player: P.J. Walker

Darnold is expected to miss at least four weeks, so this makes sense.