Before he knew that left guard Amini Silatolu needed surgery to repair a torn meniscus, Panthers coach Ron Rivera said “fingers crossed” when asked about his sudden lack of depth on the offensive line.

But when asked if he was worried, the typically upbeat Rivera admitted an important caveat.

“If we lose anybody else,” Rivera said, via Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer. “If they come back with bad news [on Silatolu], obviously we’ll be concerned. We like where we are right now. We think we’ve got solid depth and we’ve got a couple of young guys we really have high hopes for, as well. So we just have to be really smart and hopefully lucky a little bit, too.”

The Panthers aren’t saying much beyond “week-to-week” on Silatolu, but it’s reasonable to think he won’t be ready to start the regular season. And with All-Pro right tackle Daryl Williams going down early in camp with a torn MCL and dislocated patella (he’s not having surgery), the Panthers have already endured two losses to projected starters.

That comes after free agent Andrew Norwell left in free agency (they didn’t really try to stop him, after paying guard Trai Turner last year), making it easy to panic. Also, center Ryan Kalil is entering his final year, after missing 18 games the last two seasons with injuries.

“It’s always something that’s going on. We’ve just got to keep on fighting,” Turner said. “Don’t know exactly what’s going on with [Silatolu]. Hopefully it’s not serious. We have some guys in the room that just have to step up.”

While losing a player of Williams’ caliber is always tough, they at least had a ready replacement in 2017 second-rounder Taylor Moton. Replacing Silatolu will now heighten the competition at left guard. Undrafted rookie Brendan Mahon got some work with the starters after Silatolu left, and they could use free agent Jeremiah Sirles there. But the reality is a group already faced with questions is now getting thinner, and Rivera might be crossing those fingers for months to come that no more injuries happen.