In the summer of 2015, it was important to keep this in mind: Just because he was another tall receiver, it was unfair to expect Devin Funchess to be as good as Kelvin Benjamin was during his rookie season. He was an exception, not the rule.
Now it’s clear that this summer, we should’ve wondered more whether Benjamin would be as good in his return from a year off as he was in 2014.
“It’s one of those things that we all tend to forget that he’s not even 16 months removed since he had knee surgery. He missed an entire season, he’s just kind of working his way back into a full year. He’s got to get used to it again,” coach Ron Rivera said this week. “It’s unfortunate because he had such a great rookie year and then gets hurt going into his second season, and now into his third he’s had to try and work himself into playing shape, get used to playing, get used to the full year.
“You could say that it’s like hitting the rookie wall all over again for him.”
All of that is much easier to stomach than Rivera’s “there’s nothing to see here” defense of Benjamin following his multiple stop-before-the-whistle plays against the Chargers. Athletes are bouncing back better than ever after torn ACLs, but it’s still not like coming back from a broken bone. Plus, it’s hard to compare one guy’s recovery to the next.
The thing is, Adrian Peterson screwed everything up.
After tearing his ACL on Christmas Eve 2011, the Vikings running back made a superhuman comeback, racking up 2,097 yards en route to the 2012 NFL MVP award.
“(Benjamin) gets frustrated because he remembers how well his rookie year went,” Rivera said. “He’s just got to understand that having the knee repaired like he did, there’s not a lot of Adrian Peterson’s out there that can do it in the 9-months or 10-months that Adrian did it in. This is one of those things that it just going to take time.”
So as the Panthers and Benjamin play out the final three games of a terribly disappointing season, perhaps he should be given a bit more time — like a third season — before he becomes persona non grata.
Benjamin’s Career Stats
| G | Rec | Yds | TDs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 13 | 51 | 765 | 5 |
| 2014 | 16 | 73 | 1,008 | 9 |