Damione Lewis out til July, maybe longer after surgery

[Kevin Greene]

DAMIONE LEWIS OUT UNTIL JULY, POSSIBLY LONGER

Posted by Mike Florio on January 24, 2009, 11:40 p.m. EST

Steve Reed of CarolinaGrowl.com reports that Panthers starting defensive tackle Damione Lewis will be out until July — at the earliest — after undergoing surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his injured shoulder.

As a result, he’ll miss all offseason workouts.

Lewis was a first-round pick of the Rams in 2001, but was largely a disappointment in five seasons there, never becoming a regular starter.

In his first two seasons with the Panthers, Lewis also was a backup. After the team traded Kris Jenkins to the Jets, Lewis became a full-time starter for the first time in his career.

He injured the shoulder late in the season but delayed surgery as the Panthers made a playoff push.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/01/24/damione-lewis-out-until-july-possibly-longer/

get well soon

[frash.exe]

cap casualty?

[panthers1789]

cap casualty?

No.

[charlottenian]

any good news this off season?

[Snake]

cap casualty?

Would cost us too much. We just extended him last year and gave him a big raise.

[panthers1789]

any good news this off season?

What do you call Trgo leaving?

[dpanthersman]

im thinking cap casualty too..hes 31 so hes starting to be past his prime. im afraid this is gona turn into one of those season long lingering injuries. this deff makes dt our biggest need right now

[frash.exe]

Would cost us too much. We just extended him last year and gave him a big raise.

what's his hit. I thought it would be something like 2 mil.

I don't remember how much his extension was.

[panthers55]

Even more reason to find a big tackle ala Kevin Williams in Minnesota. Don't know who is out there or in the draft. I will leave that to better minds than mine. As long as we get the right guy like we did with Otah.

[panthersphan]

At least it will make us have to go out and get a DT even more...well see...

[SCpanther]

He needs to go back to his back up role anyway. The guy is too average to be starting.

[Mr. Scot]

I said even before this I'd prefer a Jenkins style "every down" tackle on one side and a return to Kemo and Lewis rotating on the other. This makes it more likely that could happen.

[mountainpantherfan]

Did Lewis get a big raise? I was thinking he was making good money when he signed as a FA and when he re-signed last offseason it was just a marginal increase in pay.

[scpanther22]

all i know is i hope this does not force us to draft a 25 year old..rookie...