By video, I cannot be sure of the nature of Greg Olson’s injury.

But putting the pieces of the puzzle together, we may be seeing a repeat of 2017.

In Week 2 last season, Olsen broke his fifth metatarsal (long bone in the foot) on an innocuous play without big-time trauma and had surgery that caused him to miss eight weeks.

Now, after a play where the Panthers tight end caught the ball and stepped on a defender’s foot, he ended up on crutches and in a protective boot on the sidelines.


Looking at replay, there was not significant trauma that would lead to injury other than the misstep on the other player’s foot.

Olsen completed the play and was seen favoring the right foot as he approached the next play. He never went down but was noted to be testing the foot and then limping to the locker room.

Although I can’t be sure of the injury, here is what we know:

Olsen had a previous fifth metatarsal injury. Otherwise known as Jones fracture, this has a significant chance of re-injury/not healing or requiring a second surgery. (See Dez Bryant, Julian Edelman and Julio Jones, among others.) Because there was no trauma by video that would explain other injury, the circumstance is consistent with Jones fracture and is similar to the first occurrence. The way Olsen continued to try to play and even test it but then came back in a boot and crutches go along with this as well.

This is medical detective work rather than the video anaylsis on which we usually rely.


I hope I am wrong, but Panthers fans should probably prepare for a repeat of 2017.