Carolina Panthers sticking with O’Brien, place him on IR

Carolina Panthers sticking with O’Brien, place him on IR

BEAU WICKER For the Kokomo Tribune
15 hrs ago



Kitt O'Brien

There’s good news and bad news for Kitt O’Brien with the Carolina Panthers.

Bad news first, he’s out for the season as he’s going to have surgery on his right shoulder on Friday to repair a torn labrum, and the Panthers have put him on Injured Reserve.

The good news is with the IR designation, the Panthers obviously like O’Brien and are keeping him around. He signed a one year, $378,000 deal with them in the offseason and he will be receiving game checks.

O’Brien is a 6-foot-5, 325-pound offensive lineman from Walton who went on to star for Lewis Cass High School and Ball State University.

The 29-year-old has one year of NFL practice squad service time with the Indianapolis Colts. This year’s IR designation will give him a second year of NFL service time. He will technically be a third-year player when he returns next year, though he’s never suited up in an NFL game. That possibility is looking better than ever going in to next season.

He played at center and guard for the Panthers in preseason games against the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills this year.

He said it was his last play in the Bills game when he injured his shoulder. He was double teaming a defensive lineman and stuck his arm out to block a blitzing linebacker when he suffered the injury. He’s facing a 4-6 month recovery.

But he’s happy he’s stuck with his dream of playing in the NFL. He signed with the Panthers last April, three days after the AAF folded. He played for the Birmingham Iron in the AAF.

“It’s only taken me seven years to make it onto a roster, granted it’s on IR, but it’s taken a long time,” O’Brien said.

He was putting together a good preseason with the Panthers and was designated for IR last Friday, when he spoke with Panthers head coach Ron Rivera and general manager Marty Hurney.

“I was doing treatment on cut morning and coach Rivera walked up to me and he said ‘hey Kitt, we’re going to put you on IR. Marty and I will explain more when you come upstairs. So don’t be scared when you see a reaper,’ He said, ‘he’s going to take you upstairs and we’re going to explain what’s going on.’ I said OK.

“So it’s the first time I’ve ever been upstairs where all the front office is kind of at ease, as opposed to sweating bullets when somebody is pulling me up there to have a conversation with me. Coach Rivera and Marty pulled me into their office and sat me down and had a conversation with me. They said they loved what I had done this year so far to this point. They loved my versatility, how well I was able to pick up the offense, the fact that they could plug me from left tackle all the way to right tackle, they weren’t afraid I’d miss a beat.

“They said ‘we had some plans for you this year. We saw you on the 53. But that being said what we want you to do is get fixed, get a year under your belt of being around the guys, jell with them, get a good grasp on the offense, become bigger, better, stronger, more flexible next year. We’ve got some plans for you in the future.’ So it was a really good meeting I had with coach Ron and Marty, and it gave me a lot of confidence going into the upcoming year.”

O’Brien turns 30 next April and plans to stay with the Panthers going into next season after he heals up from the surgery, though he has not yet signed a deal for next season.

“For everything they’ve done for me, I absolutely love the staff, the teammates I have here, so it’s a no-brainer. It’s the first place I truly have felt in the NFL where’s it’s been an open competition, the best player will play. That by itself has me wanting to come back as much as I can. As much as they’ll have me, I’ll be here,” he said.

O’Brien thinks he can use his age to his advantage. He said he recently had a conversation about that with his offensive line coach at Birmingham, Dave Magazu.

“He used the analogy that your body is like a baseball bat, it’s only got so many hits in it,” O’Brien said. “I said if you think about it, I’m a 30-year-old next year, but my body from an aspect of the amount of time I’ve spent off of a roster, I’ve probably only got the body of a 25-year-old. So I’ve got the mental reps and the mental acuity of a 30-year-old, but I still have quite a few swings in me.

“I’ve got the old man strength now. I’m not saying I’m going to lay under a bench press and bench press 500 pounds like I did in college, but I’ve got the knowledge of understanding how players play more. You can be stronger because you’re smarter. You realize a guy is going to hit you with a certain move and you now how to position yourself, which makes you seem stronger. Which I’ve always thought the older guys were stronger in college but they were just smarter than I was.”

O’Brien added one of his Birmingham teammates is also with the Panthers now.

“I’m even more excited one of my best friends, my left tackle in the AAF, played on the same team with me, Brandon Greene, actually ended up taking that final active roster spot. So we’re both staying on the same team again. It’s just really been a blessed year for both of us. We played in that league together. We both were tops in the league until it folded, and we both signed with the same team. We were battling, it was funny, there towards the end we kept flip flopping for the depth of making the team, it was nine, 10. I’d be nine after a game, and he’d be nine after a game and I’d be 10. We just flip flopped back and forth. Then ultimately my injury took that competition away a little bit. But I’m so happy for him. Being a tight end at Alabama, three years later he’s on the active 53 for the Carolina Panthers. It’s pretty cool.”

Sometimes sticking with your dreams pay off.