Tag: Yetur Gross-Matos

Panthers expected to activate Jeremy Chinn, Yetur Gross-Matos on Saturday

According to Mike Kaye of The Charlotte Observer, the Panthers are expected to activate S Jeremy Chinn today.

Jaycee Horn probably won’t be the only defensive back the Carolina Panthers are getting . . . um . . . back.

According to Mike Kaye of The Charlotte Observer, safety Jeremy Chinn is expected to be activated from injured reserve today. If so, he’ll likely join Horn—who is also reportedly headed back to the active roster—before Sunday’s matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Chinn has not played since the Panthers’ Week 6 trip to see the Miami Dolphins. He sustained a quadriceps injury in the loss, which landed him on the shelf as the team entered its Week 7 bye.

The 2023 campaign has been an awkward one for the fourth-year vet, who has struggled to achieve consistent playing time under first-year defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero. Chinn played in just 52.2 percent of Carolina’s defensive snaps through six games—a considerable drop from his 90.7 percent in 2022, 98.9 percent in 2021 and 97 percent in 2020.

Chinn was designated to return from injured reserve on Nov. 22.

Kaye also reports that the Panthers are expected to activate outside linebacker Yetur Gross-Matos as well. Gross-Matos, unlike Chinn, was thriving in the new defense before being sidelined with a hamstring injury.

The former second-round pick had recorded 2.5 sacks—one off his career-high—over his six outings.

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Panthers designate Yetur Gross-Matos to return from injured reserve

The Panthers have designated OLB Yetur Gross-Matos to return from injured reserve.

The Carolina Panthers are serving another comeback dish on Thanksgiving.

On Thursday morning, the team announced that they’ve designated outside linebacker Yetur Gross-Matos to return from injured reserve. The fourth-year defender is now the second player to be called upon in as many days, with safety Jeremy Chinn having received his thumbs up on Wednesday.

Gross-Matos was on pace to have his most productive season as a pro before sustaining what head coach Frank Reich described as a “pretty significant” hamstring injury. Through six games in his new role as a standup backer, he recorded 14 combined tackles (three for a loss), 2.5 sacks and five quarterback hits.

The 25-year-old hit injured reserve back on Oct. 24, alongside Chinn and tight end Giovanni Ricci. He is now Carolina’s sixth player who has been designated to return from IR, two off of the league limit, and has 21 days to be moved to the active roster.

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Ejiro Evero on who will play in place of Yetur Gross-Matos: We’ll keep that to ourselves

Panthers DC Ejiro Evero kept his game plan close to his chest when asked about replacing OLB Yetur Gross-Matos.

With a new defensive scheme in place, Carolina Panthers lineman-turned-linebacker Yetur Gross-Matos entered his fourth NFL season needing to address quite a few unknowns. And not too long after some of those were pleasantly answered, a new question has emerged.

Gross-Matos, who sustained what head coach Frank Reich described as a “pretty significant” hamstring injury, was placed on injured reserve earlier this week. So, defensive coordinator was asked how he’ll be dealing with that loss.

“We’re always evaulatin’ the personnel each week,” he said. “We’re always trying to find the best combinations of guys to get out there and play. Obviously, with Yetur, big hit. But again, opportunity for other people and we’ll see who steps up.”

Gross-Matos had taken advantage of his new opportunity this year. In addition to holding up as one of the unit’s best run defenders, the former second-round pick has already racked up 2.5 sacks—one off his career-high.

But with Gross-Matos now down, who exactly will be stepping up? Joe Person of The Athletic asked Evero precisely who will be taking those reps.

“We’ll keep that to ourselves for now,” he replied.

He was then asked who was “in the mix.”

“All the outside backers.”

Well, that narrows it down.

In addition to Gross-Matos, the Panthers will also be without safety Jeremy Chinn—who was placed on IR with his quadriceps injury.

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Yetur Gross-Matos sustained ‘pretty significant’ hamstring injury

Panthers OLB Yetur Gross-Matos sustained a “pretty significant” hamstring injury, says HC Frank Reich.

Yesterday, the Carolina Panthers placed three players on injured reserve—with one coming as quite a surprise.

That surprise was outside linebacker Yetur Gross-Matos, who was listed with a hamstring injury. Head coach Frank Reich had a chance to expand on the nature of the setback on Wednesday.

“It wasn’t just a little strain, it was pretty significant,” Reich told reporters. “Those things are hard to gauge. Our trainers and doctors are great at sayin, hey, they think it’s gonna be . . . usually, on an injury like that, they’ll give a two-week window about how long it’s gonna take. You guys know how to do it—it’s a first-degree, second-degree, third-degree, that kind of stuff. We don’t report those kind of things, but it was more significant.”

Gross-Matos had been one of the few bright spots of the 0-6 start for Carolina. The fourth-year defender was excelling in his transition to a standup role, as he already recorded 2.5 sacks—just one off his career-high.

He will now miss at least the next four games.

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Panthers’ updated 53-man roster after Tuesday’s flurry of moves

Gallery: Carolina Panthers’ updated 53-man roster after Tuesday’s flurry of moves

The Carolina Panthers’ active roster will look a lot different when the team hits the field this afternoon.

Tuesday brought a flurry of moves, including four adjustments to the injured reserve list and a pair of signees. In is guard Austin Corbett, offensive lineman Brett Toth and outside linebacker Luiji Vialin and out is tight end Giovanni Ricci, outside linebacker Yetur Gross-Matos and safety Jeremy Chinn.

So, here’s a fresh look at the updated 53-man program:

Panthers sign 2 players on Tuesday

The Panthers signed OL Brett Toth and OLB Luiji Vilain to their active roster on Tuesday.

Tuesday brought quite a bit of shelf work for the Carolina Panthers—who activated right guard Austin Corbett while also sending safety Jeremy Chinn, outside linebacker Yetur Gross-Matos and tight end Giovanni Ricci to injured reserve. So, in case you haven’t done the math, two spots needed to be filled.

As officially announced by the team, those spots have been filled by offensive lineman Brett Toth and outside linebacker Luiji Vilain. Toth and Vilain—who were members of the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings practice squads, respectively—will now join Carolina’s active roster.

Toth, who attended the United States Military Academy, broke into the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Eagles in 2019. The Charleston, S.C. native played in a total of 17 games for Philadelphia between 2020 and 2021—recording 102 snaps at right tackle, 14 at right guard and 30 at center.

Vilain, fresh off an elevation into last night’s win over the San Francisco 49ers, has appeared in four games for the Vikings in the last two seasons. He’s amassed four tackles.

In addition, the Panthers also released offensive lineman Justin McCray from their practice squad.

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Panthers place Jeremy Chinn, Yetur Gross-Matos, Giovanni Ricci on IR

The Panthers have placed S Jeremy Chinn, OLB Yetur Gross-Matos and TE Giovanni Ricci on injured reserve.

The Carolina Panthers made an unfortunate and uneven swap on Tuesday, and it had nothing to do with the upcoming trade deadline.

As announced by the team this afternoon, starting right guard Austin Corbett has been activated after missing the first six games of the season. But, they’ll be sending three players back the other way—as safety Jeremy Chinn (quadriceps), outside linebacker Yetur Gross-Matos (hamstring) and tight end Giovanni Ricci (shoulder) have all been placed on injured reserve.

ESPN senior NFL insider Adam Schefter first shined a light on Chinn’s setback last week, revealing that the fourth-year defensive back sustained a “significant” quad injury in the Week 6 loss to the Miami Dolphins. Schefter also added that Chinn would be expected to miss up to six weeks, so his placement on IR isn’t much of a surprise.

Gross-Matos’ placement, however, is. Chinn’s fellow 2020 draftee was off to the best start of his pro career, as he racked up 2.5 sacks and five tackles for a loss through the team’s six outings.

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Ejiro Evero praises growth of Yetur Gross-Matos

Panthers DC Ejiro Evero on Yetur Gross-Matos’ early success: He’s seeing the fruits of his labor

Carolina Panthers outside linebacker Yetur Gross-Matos came into 2023, a very crucial campaign for his NFL career, prepared to take on more responsibility. And so far, it’s showed.

The fourth-year defender has been one of the few bright spots for a struggling Panthers squad this season. Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero spoke about the growth and early results of Gross-Matos on Thursday.

“Yeah, I just think he’s been committed since Day One,” Evero said. “Since we’ve been with him, it’s been about his work, playin’ on the edge, playin’ inside. He knew he was gonna have multiple roles to do that in. And he’s been committed to bein’ better.

“And I know he’s doing it in every phase of his life—in the classroom, in the weight room, on the field, obviously. And I’ve just seen a great commitment from the young man from since Day One to be the best version of himself. And now he’s seein’ the fruits of that labor.”

The fruits have him tasting on 2.5 sacks, four quarterback hits and three tackles for a loss through just four games. If the 25-year-old keeps on his current pace, he’s set to shatter his career-bests in each of those aforementioned categories—which stand at 3.5 sacks, 10 quarterback hits and five tackles for a loss.

Evero was then asked if he envisions even more playing time for Gross-Matos moving forward.

“Absolutely, absolutely,” he replied. “And he earned those snaps even before we started playin’ games, to be honest with you. He did a great job in training camp and he was ready to go. And, as you know, the flow the game in that first game was like—we didn’t really play a lot of snaps on defense. And just some of the personnel groups that we were workin’, didn’t work out that way.

“But the intention was to play him in that first game. But you can see now that the last three games is kinda what we wanna de defensively in terms of substitution pattern there.”

After that strange Week 1, where he saw just four defensive snaps, Gross-Matos has seen the majority of looks every game out. He played in 54.5 percent of the snaps in Week 2, 56 percent of the snaps in Week 3 and 68.8 percent of the snaps in Week 4.

So, Evero and the Panthers will seemingly continue to let Yetur eat.

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Best photos of Penn State players in the NFL’s Week 4

Check out the best photos of Penn State players in the NFL in Week 4.

Former Penn State wide receiver [autotag]Jahan Dotson[/autotag] came up clutch for the Washington Commanders when he caught a game-ending touchdown on the final play of regulation, forcing overtime on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. Unfortunately for Dotson and the Commanders, the result did not go their way in the overtime.

Meanwhile, in Dallas, Micah Parsons and the Dallas Cowboys dominated Mike Gesicki and the New England Patriots. Parsons appeared to injure his ankle during the game but continued to play in the blowout. Parsons and the Cowboys have a major test next week on Sunday night against the San Francisco 49ers. That one should be a good one.

Here are some of the best photos from around the NFL’s Week 4 of former Penn State football players.

Studs and duds from Panthers’ Week 4 loss to Vikings

In an otherwise disappointing Sunday, Panthers WR Adam Thielen came to play against his old friends.

The Carolina Panthers took their fourth straight loss on Sunday—falling to the visiting Minnesota Vikings, 21-13. And while there are some negative performances to go over, there are a few men who had themselves a respectable showing.

Here are the Panthers’ studs and duds from Week 4: