Panthers News: Bryce Young, Adam Thielen, Sam Franklin and Cam Newton
By Dean Jones
Carolina Panthers S Sam Franklin's mindset
The Carolina Panthers were dealt another blow this week when Xavier Woods went down with a hamstring injury and is expected to miss anywhere from 4-to-6 weeks. This will land the safety on injured/reserve at some stage and is another obstacle for Ejiro Evero's under-strength defense to overcome heading into Week 4 against the Minnesota Vikings.
As always, it's next man up. That happens to be Sam Franklin Jr., who's taken it upon himself to work closely with Vonn Bell this week to ensure everything goes according to plan based on his comments via Carolina's website.
"Communication is always going to be one of the things that we always highly talk about, week in and week out. We drive the bus from the back, so we've got to make sure everybody's on the same page. We've got to make sure everybody knows what they're going to do. This week, Vonn and I just took it upon ourselves to do a little bit of extra, making sure that we're on the same page, so we know what we're looking at, what we're getting, and just to build some more confidence going into this game."
- Sam Franklin via Panthers.com
One couldn't dismiss the possibility of the Panthers utilizing Jeremy Chinn on the backend if the situation dictates. But given the coaching staff's direction once Woods went out at the Seattle Seahawks, Franklin will be the guy.
Whether the supreme special teams contributor can make his presence felt on the defensive rotation remains to be seen.