Carolina Panthers rookie receiver Chris Brazzell II suffered a moderate lateral collateral ligament tear in his left knee in practice Wednesday and is expected to be sidelined for up to eight weeks, a league source told ESPN, confirming a report by The Athletic.
The injury came on a noncontact play. Brazzell, who is competing for the Panthers WR3 role, will seek a second opinion.
Brazzell, selected in the third round out of Tennessee by the Panthers this year, had missed two practices earlier this week because of soreness in that knee.
"He felt weird on it, sat down. We took him in. We'll get a full evaluation and get a picture of that, and we'll give you guys more information there," coach Dave Canales told reporters earlier Wednesday, according to the team's website.
The injury happened in a 7-on-7 drill, and he couldn't put weight on his left foot as he was helped to a cart.
He became the latest player for the defending NFC South champions to sustain an injury since the start of training camp last week.
Carolina lost second-year pass rusher Nic Scourton to a season-ending torn ACL last week, and backup tight end Mitchell Evans was carted off Tuesday, although that injury was not as severe. Canales said Wednesday that exams revealed Evans has a low ankle sprain, and he could return later this week.
The Panthers will be without both starting offensive tackles, Taylor Moton (blood clot/lung) and Ickey Ekwonu (knee), to start the regular season. Also, starting guards Damien Lewis (calf) and Robert Hunt (back) have missed time at practice because of injuries.
The Panthers drafted Brazzell in the third round with an eye toward him becoming a valuable deep threat to pair with last year's NFL Rookie of the Year Tetairoa McMillan, Jalen Coker and Xavier Legette in a young but developing wide receivers room.
Brazzell ran a 4.37-second, 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine in February and has big-play ability that can stretch a defense. He had 62 catches for 1,017 yards and nine touchdowns last season for the Volunteers.
NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
