The Carolina Panthers placed cornerback Teddy Williams on injured reserve Friday morning with a left knee injury, effectively ending his season.
The #Panthers have activated CB Leonard Johnson and placed CB Teddy Williams on IR » https://t.co/ufb6HgckNo pic.twitter.com/NzvX94UTrw
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) October 28, 2016
The former UTSA sprinter left practice on Thursday during warm-ups and was unable to return to the field.
“Teddy Williams came out to practice, we were getting warmed up and stuff like that and he kind of felt something,” said head coach Ron Rivera at the time. “And so he went in to see (the athletic trainer) and they examined him.”
Read more: Panthers corner placed on IR
This injury comes at an especially unfortunate time for Williams, as he had just worked his way into the cornerback rotation and was coming off the best game of his career two weeks ago, when he recorded six tackles and his first NFL interception.
Williams had an up-and-down season prior to his breakout in Week 6, serving as the team’s workhorse on special teams in Week 1 before missing out on the active roster for the next three weeks.
His return in Week 5 was the first time he saw the field as a cornerback all year, but his most memorable moment came when he ran into punt returner Ted Ginn Jr., causing him to muff the punt and lose the ball to Tampa Bay.
After appearing in 16 games for Carolina last year on their way to Super Bowl 50, Williams will end the 2016 campaign having played in just three games, recording a total of six tackles, two pass deflections and one interception returned for 19 yards.