Panthers Place Starting Safety on Injured Reserve

The Carolina Panthers will be without one of their leaders and tone-setters on defense for at least four weeks. The team announced Wednesday that it had placed safety Jeremy Chinn on injured reserve with a hamstring injury suffered in Week 4. Chinn went down early in the team's 26-16 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, playing only six snaps. Before that, the safety had been an iron man for the Panthers, logging every defensive snap through three weeks and 1914 in his first two seasons. Myles Hartsfield, Sean Chandler, and Sam Franklin Jr. will compete for snaps in his absence. Chinn joined the Panthers as the 64th overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft and immediately became a cornerstone of their defense. A big-bodied, explosive athlete, the safety led the Panthers in tackles in each of his first two seasons and finished second in the 2020 Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year vote behind Washington Commanders defensive lineman Chase Young. The Panthers will struggle to replace his unique skillset in upcoming games against the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Atlanta Falcons.

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