CHARLOTTE – Kicker Graham Gano has been placed on injured reserve with a left knee injury, turning duties for the final two games over to Chandler Catanzaro.
Gano sat out the previous two games with the injury suffered in practice. He made 14-of-16 field goals and 30-of-33 extra points in 2018. Gano was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for October after beating the Giants with a 63-yard field goal and ending the month with an NFL-best streak of 28 consecutive field goals made.
In Catanzaro's first two games with Carolina, he's made both of his field goals and all three of his PATs.
The Panthers filled Gano's spot on the 53-man roster by signing tight end Jason Vander Laan from their practice squad. Vander Laan was a record-setting quarterback at Division II Ferris State who went undrafted in 2016 but appeared in four games for the Colts in 2017.
The practice squad also lost 2018 seventh-round draft choice Kendrick Norton, a defensive tackle who was signed to the Dolphins' active roster Tuesday.
The Panthers filled the practice squad openings by signing linebacker Antwione Williams and offensive lineman Landon Turner.
Williams was a fifth-round pick of the Lions in 2016 who played in 14 games as a rookie but who has been out of football since spending the 2018 offseason with the Vikings and two days before the season opener on the Seahawks' practice squad. Turner was undrafted out of the University of North Carolina in 2016 but played in seven games with one start for the Saints as a rookie. The 6-4, 325-pounder spent time on the Saints' and Vikings' practice squads this season as a guard.
