Panthers’ rookie Tyler Gaffney out for season following knee injury
By Jack Crosby
In the sixth round of the NFL Draft back in May, the Carolina Panthers drafted Stanford workhorse Tyler Gaffney, who was expected to compete for some playing time in the backfield this season. Well, he will have to wait until next season to compete for some NFL playing time as Gaffney injured his knee in practice on Saturday and will be done for the year.
Rivera said Tyler Gaffney did not tear his ACL, which is a positive. But he's still done for the year.
— Steve Reed (@SteveReedAP) July 27, 2014
The good news out of all that is that he didn’t tear his ACL, rather it was the lateral meniscus. Still enough to make him miss his rookie season in the NFL, but the recovery process is a lot easier than that of an ACL tear.
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Gaffney was an absolute beast of a running back during his time at Stanford. Last season in helping the Cardinal win the Pac-12 Championship and get to the Rose Bowl, Gaffney rushed for 1,709 yards and 15 touchdowns.
With his hard running style, if anything, Gaffney could have been a good goal line back for the Panthers this year. And he still could be down the road, he’ll just have to wait until next season to prove himself after the knee heals up.