Kelvin Benjamin sat out Monday's practice and was sent to Charlotte to undergo a "precautionary" MRI exam.
Coach Ron Rivera told reporters Monday afternoon that Benjamin suffered a bone bruise to his left knee. The injury stems from when Benjamin bumped knees with a teammate during practice Sunday.
The rookie's knee is stable and is experiencing swelling, and there is no timetable for Benjamin's return, per Rivera. The No. 28 overall pick in May's draft is expected to return to practice once the swelling subsides, and Rivera expects that to be a matter of days, not weeks.
Losing Benjamin for any significant amount of time would be disastrous for a corps already dreadfully thin. However, at this point there is no panic from the Panthers.
Still, Rivera would like to get his big-bodied pass-catcher back at practice as soon as possible.
"Young guys need as many reps and they can get," Rivera said earlier Monday. "There's an old saying, 'If you can get 5,000 reps you can be ready to play.' So we want to get him as many as we can."
Receiver isn't the easiest position to pick up in the NFL and missing early reps is a foreboding sign. Benjamin possesses the most potential of any player in the team's receiving corps and the Panthers expect a lot out him in 2014.
The latest Around The League Podcast visits with former Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum and discusses the best of the early training-camp surprises.
