Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera lost his best wide receiver in an instant. Now comes the difficult challenge of moving on.
"We had an unfortunate situation yesterday with Kelvin (Benjamin). He'll get taken care of, he'll have his surgery and everything in due time," Rivera said Thursday. "We've got to find answers for that, whether it's a player stepping up or it's by committee. But we've got to find the solution. And we will, because we've got plenty of time right now."
Rivera was asked how the Panthers might change on offense with Benjamin out with a torn ACL.
"I don't know if it changes as much. We drafted Devin Funchess for a reason, and maybe this is one of them," he said. "That you want to have a big, quality receiver and Devin gives us that still. We got Teddy Ginn back with the speed. Corey's (Brown) continued to develop.
"We've got the vet in (Jerricho Cotchery) and we've got some young guys that are really fighting and battling and doing a great job. Somebody's going to step up, and it's not going to change what we do. We'll do the things that we do."
Funchess tweaked his hamstring in the same practice Benjamin went down. Rivera confirmed Funchess -- the team's second-round pick -- will be held out of the team's second preseason game on Saturday against the Dolphins. The team is hopeful Funchess will be back at practice on Monday.
One option Rivera didn't mention: Bringing in a veteran receiver from the outside. That might have everything to do with the options. The Panthers are in a very tough spot.
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