North Charlotte Today

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Carolina Panthers are aware of the concerns surrounding kicker Eddy Piñeiro's recent injury scare.

When Piñeiro was listed as questionable during the second half of Saturday's preseason victory due to a right hamstring injury, it evoked memories of past injuries in similar circumstances. However, Piñeiro reassured everyone post-game.

"I'm fine," Piñeiro stated with a smile in the locker room. "All good. Thanks for asking."

Piñeiro mentioned experiencing some soreness but confirmed he could have played if necessary in the second half. He even kicked into the net on the sidelines during that period. With two weeks remaining before the regular season begins, there is ample time for recovery.

Panthers head coach Dave Canales echoed Piñeiro's sentiment, describing his condition as "fine" and noting that resting him was a precautionary measure.

"Just some soreness; we wanted to be smart with that," Canales said. "So that was just kind of more of an err on the side of caution."

Piñeiro successfully made a 45-yard field goal before halftime, which concluded his participation for the day.

Punter Johnny Hekker took over kickoff duties in the second half as part of an experiment with new kickoff rules—a plan unrelated to Piñeiro's condition—and joked about his readiness to attempt long field goals if needed.

"Get the ball to the 40-yard line, and let me give it a whack," Hekker quipped.

Hekker's light-heartedness stemmed from confidence in Piñeiro’s recovery and awareness of past incidents involving Panthers kickers in Buffalo.

In 2021, then-Panthers kicker Zane Gonzalez sustained an injury during pregame warm-ups in Buffalo, leading to emergency tryouts among position players and subsequent adjustments during games. Gonzalez later suffered another injury against Buffalo in 2022 preseason play, resulting in his placement on injured reserve and prompting the Panthers to sign Piñeiro.

Since joining Carolina, Piñeiro has been one of the league’s most accurate kickers when healthy, achieving a 90.6 percent success rate on field goals over two seasons with the team.

Despite these reassurances, concerns lingered given past experiences against Buffalo.

"He was fine. He was good to go," Hekker said. "I think it's just preseason precaution... You hear about a little tightness; shut it down."

Hekker expressed optimism about getting additional reps while allowing Piñeiro adequate rest ahead of the regular season start.

"We got two weeks to get him right," Hekker added, "and he's going to be back with the training staff we've got here."