There are many adjectives that can be used to describe the way that Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen has played this season: All of them nothing short of glowing, considering that he re-fractured the foot that he broke last season in Week One, missed only three games before returning, and played largely like his usual self. But now, it appears that Olsen's valiant 2018 season has come to an end.

After being carted to the locker room never to return in Week 13's loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Olsen confirmed to reporters after the game that he has ruptured the plantar fascia on the bottom of his foot - the thick connective tissue that supports the arch of the foot. Although his status likely won't be official until later on in the week, Olsen stated that the injury will likely end his season.

It should be noted that Olsen's injury is not the same one that he has suffered twice in the past two years, but it is related to the foot fractures he has suffered.

Greg Olsen on crutches, says it is not re-fractured, but another injury stemming from that



Says he ruptured his plantar fascia on the bottom of his ft



“I think we’ve gotten about as much as we can out of this foot.”



Adds that he tries not to make rash decisions in tough times pic.twitter.com/CLNHPsaTam — Kelsey Riggs (@KelseyRiggsWCNC) December 2, 2018

"On that play, I went to push off and ... the bottom tissue of my foot popped," said Olsen. "It all stems from what I've got going on and the amount of trauma that's happened to this foot over the last two seasons now."

"We did the best we could. We got as much out of it as we could've, and finally my foot just kind of had enough."

Since returning to the field Week Six against the Washington Redskins, Olsen stated that he has dealt with a variety of different pain in his foot stemming from the trauma that it has endured. Olsen had been able to manage the soreness that he had dealt with ever since returning to action, but on the first play of the second quarter, Olsen stated that the tissue in his foot "popped" on him.

With the odds extremely good that Olsen's season is now over with four games left to play, it is likely that he will finish his season with 27 catches for 291 yards and four touchdowns in nine games played. Olsen's absence will likely mean another opportunity for rookie tight end Ian Thomas to see significant playing time, and he performed well in relief of Olsen during the course of Sunday's game, catching five passes for a total of 46 yards.