Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold was listed as questionable because of a right shoulder injury heading into Sunday’s loss to the Patriots and the shoulder continues to be a problem on Monday.
Head coach Matt Rhule said that Darnold went for an MRI on his shoulder after reporting soreness on Monday morning. Darnold hurt his shoulder on the same hit that concussed him during a Week Eight win over the Falcons and he turned in a poor performance against New England after being cleared from the concussion protocol.
Rhule said on Sunday that he wanted to watch tape of the game before making any decisions about Darnold’s status as a starter. On Monday, he said the team would wait for the MRI results before doing anything regarding their Week 10 game against the Cardinals.
“In terms of where we are moving forward and all those things, we’ll always try to do whatever it takes to be great. I’m not going to get into hypotheticals and all those things. I kind of handle things one bit at a time. See where Sam’s health is, and then make the best decisions after that,” Rhule said, via Darin Gantt of the team’s website.
Rhule reiterated that “the play at that position has to be better” and said he thought Darnold “played an excellent game” before getting hurt against the Falcons.
Defensive end Brian Burns went for an MRI of his ankle and the Panthers are waiting for word on left tackle Cameron Erving’s calf injury. They lost center Matt Paradis to a torn ACL, so they were down two starting offensive linemen by the end of Sunday’s game.
