Panthers lose Benjamin for the season:

Optimism was high around Carolina, as the Carolina Panthers were set to enter the season with a pair of massive options for Cam Newton at receiver when disaster struck on Wednesday. Second-year wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin went down and needed to be carted off with what his head coach thought, or maybe just hoped was a knee sprain.

Instead the news was the worst in that situation. Benjamin would be lost for the season with a torn ACL.

Benjamin surprised many in the NFL with an outstanding rookie season, starting 15 games and pulling in 73 receptions for 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns. The reason why some weren’t sure Benjamin could be a team’s top receiver at the NFL level was because he lacks top end speed.

Now the Panthers’ receiver will return in 2016 after a tearing his ACL, and will once again likely need to silence concerns about his speed after a major knee surgery. It’s a challenge general manager Dave Gettleman is confident Benjamin can get past.

“Obviously, we feel awful for Kelvin,” Gettleman said in a statement. “He’s worked tremendously hard to put himself in a position to have a strong year. We’re confident he will attack his surgery and rehab with the same determination he has met all challenges before.”

Devin Funchess, the team’s second-round draft pick this year, or veterans Tedd Ginn, Jr. or Jericho Cotchery will likely be thrown into the first receiver role as the Panthers just don’t have many options.

Carolina will be hard at work watching the rest of the league’s upcoming cuts to see what kind of talent shakes free at wide receiver, because the in-house options and free agent receivers aren’t very exciting. If the Panthers do look to free agency, they could look at names like Reggie Wayne, Wes Welker or Santonio Holmes.

Regardless of how they fill the role left open by Benjamin’s injury, there will be a big drop off in production in comparison to what the expectations were for Newton and Benjamin this season.

Cardinals and Dolphins suffer setbacks at camp:

The Arizona Cardinals will be without newcomer and starting left guard Mike Iupati for 6 to 8 weeks after knee surgery to clean up swelling around the veteran’s knee. Iupati figured to help anchor a strong Cardinals offensive line which has been rebuilt on the left side over the past two offseasons.

Once a weakness for the team, Iupati was set to join last year’s big free agent pick up, left tackle Jared Veldheer who the team signed away from the Oakland Raiders. If Iupati can get back on the field and stay healthy, he and Veldheer would give the Cardinals one of the best left sides of any line in the NFL.

Iupati has proven to be very durable during his five-year career, missing only five games during his time as a San Francisco 49ers, so hopefully this set-back is something the veteran guard can overcome.

The news for the Miami Dolphins on Wednesday was much worse than it was for Iupati and the Cardinals, as safety Louis Delmas went down with an ACL tear that will cost him the entire 2015 season.

The non-contact injury happened on the same knee that Delmas tore against the Baltimore Ravens in 2014, which could lead to a long road to recovery for Delmas. For a veteran safety whose play has been up and down at times, a second torn ACL to the same knee could just be career ending.

The Dolphins did receive some good news on Wednesday as rookie receiver DeVante Parker was taken off the PUP list.

Tom Brady may be willing to admit to lack of cooperation:

In the latest turn in the ridiculous saga that is “Deflate-gate,” it seems Tom Brady may be willing to admit to his lack of cooperation with Ted Wells and the Wells Report.

After the two sides met in front of Judge Richard Berman again Tuesday, lawyers for each side were back in court Wednesday. Berman again pushed each side to find a way to reach a settlement in the case and has set a date of August 31^st for Brady and Goodell to once again appear in court if a settlement isn’t reached.

According to sources involved in the proceedings, Brady is open to negotiate to some admittance to the lack of cooperation with the Wells report if it would result in fines or the loss of game checks, but he is still unwilling to admit to any guilt in relation to deflation, or miss any games as part of a settlement.

Stay tuned for more ridiculous news on what may be the dumbest story reported in the NFL over the last decade.

Both sides look ridiculously bad in this situation, and there will be no winner. Tom Brady, the Patriots, the NFL, and NFL fans are all losers in this situation, and the longer it is drawn out, the more ridiculous it looks.