Kelvin Benjamin Suffers Knee Injury vs. Saints; Ruled Out for Remainder of Game

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin suffered a knee injury against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday and won't return to the contest, the team announced.     

Benjamin suffered the injury in the first quarter when he was tackled from behind and had his leg pinned in an awkward position. 

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Benjamin's injury isn't believed to be serious.

This setback would be another difficult blow for Benjamin if he is forced to miss time after he tore his ACL during practice before the 2015 campaign even started and didn't appear on the field that year.

He missed an opportunity to build on his spectacular 2014 rookie season when he tallied 73 catches for 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns. The 6'5" playmaker and red-zone threat followed that up with 63 catches for 941 yards and seven touchdowns in 2016. Coming into the contest he had seven catches in two games and had not scored a touchdown.

While the Panthers would lose a dynamic aspect of their offense if Benjamin misses action, they can at least take solace in the fact they reached the Super Bowl once without him.

Cam Newton is in a tough position with tight end Greg Olsen out with an injury of his own. The Panthers have pieces such as Devin Funchess, Christian McCaffrey, Curtis Samuel and Russell Shepard, but can't afford to lose Benjamin at this time.

Carolina will need to rely on a rushing attack that features Newton, Jonathan Stewart and McCaffrey.