Panic meter: 10 | Preliminary stories had Brazzell out roughly eight weeks with a knee harm, however the Panthers prioritized the rookie receiver’s long-term outlook on second opinion by saying the 2026 third-rounder (No. 83 total) would bear season-ending knee surgical procedure.
Brazzell’s loss might have a huge effect, doubtlessly ruining head coach Dave Canales’ plans of utilizing 2025 Related Press Offensive Rookie of the 12 months wideout Tetairoa McMillan extra usually within the slot. Brazzell (6-foot-4, 198 kilos) ran a 4.37s 40-yard sprint on the scouting mix, and his field-stretching capacity would have harassed defenses already targeted on taking away McMillan.
Canales has a full month to determine a Plan B, and he may want each second of it.
Panic meter: 8 | Bresee, the Saints’ 2023 first-round decide, is believed to have torn his ACL in apply this week, eradicating a key defensive piece off the chess board for coordinator Brandon Staley.
Rookie Christen Miller, 2025 third-rounder Vernon Broughton and 2024 sixth-round decide Khristian Boyd will probably be amongst these chargeable for selecting up the slack, and till they carry out within the common season, we can’t know Bresee’s absence’s influence. Boughton and Boyd mixed for 101 snaps a season in the past, whereas Miller has essentially the most upside coming from Georgia’s defensive sort out manufacturing unit.
Bresee’s manufacturing will probably be missed, however maybe most worrisome is the harm’s influence on depth on the place. As an alternative of the crew’s unproven backups easing into rotational roles, they’re going to be thrown into the deep waters out of the gate, the place they’re going to sink or swim.
Buffalo Bills security C.J. Gardner-Johnson
Panic meter: 5 | Gardner-Johnson was carted off throughout Saturday’s apply with a calf pressure. Buffalo signed the seven-year veteran to a one-year, $3.5M contract in March after he spent 2025 on three groups.
Whereas he does not final in a single place for occasionally, Gardner-Johnson nonetheless supplies worth along with his capacity to create turnovers (20 profession interceptions), hard-nosed taking part in model and management, which the Payments are already studying.
“In restricted time with the crew,” ESPN Bills reporter Alaina Getzenberg wrote, “Gardner-Johnson has been a vocal chief for the unit.”
Whereas he prevented main setback, a strained calf results in higher danger of a way more critical Achilles harm, which ought to make the Payments additional cautious in Gardner-Johnson’s rehab.
Panic meter: 6 | This was imagined to be a breakout season for Stewart, who missed most of his rookie camp as a result of a contract dispute and solely had one sack a season in the past. He’ll miss time once more this coaching camp after hyperextending his knee throughout apply on Wednesday.
It is a blessing contemplating how bad the injury looked that Stewart prevented a worse destiny, nevertheless it places him on an uphill climb heading into his second season. The Bengals want to begin seeing one thing out of their 2025 first-round decide, but that must proceed ready.
