Carolina Panthers place LB Chandler Wooten on injured reserve

As expected, the Carolina Panthers placed linebacker Chandler Wooten on injured reserve after he sprained his ankle in a loss to the Colts.

The Panthers already had signed Blake Martinez, a linebacker who left the NFL a year ago to see Pokeman collectibles.

Wooten, a key special teams player, can take a seat on IR next to all the other Carolina linebackers — Yetur Gross-Matos, Justin Houston, Shaq Thompson, and Claudin Cherelus.

Linebacker Chandler Wooten placed on injured reservehttps://t.co/upy1MZDtWg

— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 7, 2023

Wooden has played on defense for two Panthers game this season. He does get his snaps on special teams. He recovered a muffed punt against the Colts and has made eight tackles this season.

Besides Martinez, the Panthers made other rosters moves at linebacker. Outside linebacker Marquis Haynes returned to practice Monday. That opened the 21-day window for Carolina to bring him back to the active roster. Plus, the Panthers elevated tight end Jordan Matthews from the practice squad. They also added linebacker Ace Eley to the practice squad. The Panthers had Eley in training camp with them.

Martinez is an interestiing signee. He starred at Stanford and played four seasons with the Packers. Then in early 2020, before the Covid pandemic started, he signed a $30 million free agent deal with the Giants. , He tore his ACL early in the 2021 season. The Giants eventually released him. By last season, he was playing for the Raiders to prove to everyone he came back from his knee injury.

But he quit to become a full-time Pokémon businessman after he said his company had generated $11.5 million in revenues. However, a major on-line market place banned Blake’s Breaks, Martinez’s collectibles company, following allegations of fraudulent sales. Whatnot no longer allow’s activity from Martinez’s account and began account refunding customers who weren’t satisfied with their purchases.

Meanwhile, the Panthers are playing the Bears on Thursday Night Football. Together, the teams have won two games. Carolina already has ruled out star pass rusher Brian Burns, who is in concussion protocol.