Carolina Panthers linebacker Shaq Thompson tore his Achilles and will miss the rest of the season, the team announced on Monday.
Thompson sustained the injury on a noncontact play in Sunday’s 34-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. He was carted into the locker room. Thompson acknowledged his injury on Instagram.
“Just sick for Shaq. A guy who cares so much and plays with so much passion,” head coach Dave Canales said during a Monday availability.
Thompson graded out as the team’s best player (79.5) per Pro Football Focus in the loss to Cincinnati. He recorded five tackles and 1 1/2 stuffs in the Week 4 defeat. Through the first four games of the 2024 season, Thompson was the team’s leading tackler (35). He was also the team’s leading tackler in 2022. Thompson played in only two games last season after suffering a broken fibula in Week 2.
“These are high-effort games and when you’re exerting yourself all the time, these things just happen,” Canales said.
The highest-graded Panthers in Week 4 vs the Bengals:
🥇 Shaq Thompson – 79.5
🥈 Andy Dalton – 79.1
🥉 Diontae Johnson – 71.5
🏅 Chuba Hubbard – 69.5
🏅 Jadeveon Clowney – 69.1(min. 25 snaps) pic.twitter.com/B0GaOSdLOD
— PFF CAR Panthers (@PFF_Panthers) September 30, 2024
What it means for Thompson and the team
The 30-year-old Thompson is one of the last links to the Panthers’ Super Bowl team from 2015, when he was a rookie playing alongside Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis. Thompson has never been to a Pro Bowl, but he’s one of the Panthers’ emotional leaders and had four consecutive 100-tackle seasons from 2019 to 2022. However, this is the second year in a row that Thompson has gone down with a season-ending injury in September: The 2015 first-rounder broke his fibula in Week 2 in 2023.
Thompson, the Panthers’ longest-tenured position player, will join Pro Bowl defensive lineman Derrick Brown on injured reserve, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of Ejiro Evero’s 3-4 defense. Because Thompson has voidable years at the end of his contract, he will become a free agent after this season. — Joseph Person, Panthers beat writer
How do the Panthers replace him?
General manager Dan Morgan actually might have to replace both inside linebackers after Josey Jewell left the Bengals game with groin and hamstring injuries. Canales expects Jewell to miss at least a week with his injuries. At the end of Sunday’s game, the two interior spots were manned by Claudin Cherelus, who is more of a special teams player, and rookie Trevin Wallace. The Panthers will look for outside help but expect them to see what they have in Wallace, a third-round pick from Kentucky whose snaps have been limited so far. — Person
Shaq Thompson has been the loudest advocate of wanting the Panthers to bring back grass surface to BoA Stadium.
Will be interesting to hear whether he thinks the turf played a role. https://t.co/PC3N2BUQqm— Joe Person (@josephperson) September 30, 2024
