Greg Van Roten: Get to know the Panthers lineman
Greg Van Roten has an opportunity to start for the first time in his career, what you need to know…
Multiple injuries along the Carolina Panthers offensive line have coach Ron Rivera scrambling to fill positions this preseason thrusting Greg Van Roten into the spotlight. Starting tackle Daryl Williams is expected to be placed on Injured Reserve once the regular season begins in hopes of being one of the players Carolina can reactivate later in the season and guard Amini Silatolu is recovering from a meniscus tear.
Losing Andrew Norwell in free agency, the Panthers had expected competition at the guard position but Williams’ injury complicated matters. Second year lineman Taylor Moton, expected to be in contention at guard, needed to be moved back out to tackle for the immediate future.
This left Silatolu as the veteran leader anchoring left guard but his injury created an opening for others on the roster.
Enter Greg Van Roten.
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A native New Yorker, Van Roten attended Pennsylvania of the Ivy League and earned All Conference honors in three consecutive seasons as an offensive tackle. Moving from honorable mention (2009), to first-team (2010) and then unanimous first-team (2011), Van Roten began laying the groundwork for his future career.
An undrafted free agent who signed with the Green Bay Packers following the 2012 NFL Draft, Van Roten has spent time with four different franchises over the past seven seasons. His stops include the Packers, Seahawks and Jaguars before settling in with Carolina last season in addition to two years with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.
Appearing in just 10 games with the Packers during 2012 and 2013, Van Roten matched his total with the Panthers last year. Primarily serving on special teams, Van Roten did play a handful of snaps along the offensive line last season.
In a fierce battle with rookie guard Brendan Mahon, both are expected to see plenty of practice repetitions and preseason action moving forward. Last Thursday night, Mahon was reportedly going to make the start for Carolina at Buffalo, but Rivera instead elected to give Van Roten the opportunity.
Takeaways from Training Camp. dark. Next
Both have been impressive and this battle continues to be something worth watching as the preseason continues.