Carolina Panthers defensive end Charles Johnson will miss at least seven games after he re-aggravated a hamstring injury in Sunday's win over the Saints.
The Panthers put him on the injured reserve/designated to return list Tuesday which means he'll have to sit out at least six weeks of practice and he can't play in a game for at least eight weeks. The earliest he could return to practice is Nov. 10. The soonest he could play is in Week 12 against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.
After Johnson was carted into the locker room Sunday, the Panthers immediately feared their best pass rusher would have to miss multiple games. Monday morning, they started trade talks with Chicago, which ultimately netted them defensive end Jared Allen, the NFL's active sack leader.
Second on the Panthers' all-time list with 63.5 career sacks, Johnson broke Tuesday's news on his Instagram account, along with a sketch of a restaurant he's planning to open about a mile away from Bank of America Stadium:
Johnson missed most of training camp and the first three preseason games with a calf injury before he tweaked a trap muscle before the preseason finale in Pittsburgh. He had one of the Panthers' five sacks in the season opener at Jacksonville and didn't appear on the injury report during the first two weeks of the season. But he missed two practices in Week 3 with a sore hamstring that eventually put him on the turf against the Saints.
Despite nagging injuries the past two years, Johnson has been remarkably durable. He's played in 109 of a possible 115 games since 2008, with his last game missed coming in Week 13 of the 2013 season.
This is the second time the Panthers have used the IR/designated to return list since it was implemented in 2012. Fullback Mike Tolbert was placed on it after Week 3 last season with a hairline fracture in his left leg before he returned in late November.