Greg Olsen expected out 6-8 weeks with broken foot

Greg Olsen’s broken foot isn’t a season-ending injury like many expected it to be.

The Carolina Panthers had a rough day on Sunday. While the team struggled to get into the end zone, beating the Buffalo Bills 9-3, things got worse for them as their starting tight end Greg Olsen broke his foot during the win.

The early assumption was that Olsen would be out the rest of the 2017 season, but it doesn’t appear that way.

This is a big sigh of relief for Panthers fans, as Olsen is Cam Newtons number one go-to receiver, getting 128 targets in 2016, finishing with 80 catches for 1,073 yards and three touchdowns. He has had a quiet 2017 so far though, only getting six targets, catching three of them for 28 yards.

With Olsen down, expect the Panthers to see more usage out of wide receivers Kelvin Benjamin, who was number two in targets in 2016, Devin Funchess, who saw his targets triple from week one to week two, and rookie running back converted wide receiver Curtis Samuel, who has only seen three targets all season.

Along with passing to other receivers, Carolina could pound the rock even more with running backs Jonathan Stewart and Christian McCaffrey. Stewart saw 15 carries on Sunday, while McCaffrey saw eight. McCaffrey could also be used as a weapon through the air, getting four catches for 34 yards against Buffalo, he could be thrown into the mix of receivers who see more action with Olsen gone.

As for the backup tight end, that job belongs to Ed Dickson, who had a career-high 54 catches for 528 yards back in 2011, since then he hasn’t done much in his career. Now is his chance to prove himself against everyone.

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Carolina is back home in week three as they start division play against the 0-2 New Orleans Saints and without his number one target now, things got a lot harder for Cam Newton to get into the end zone.