New England Patriots: Kelvin Benjamin expected to play in Week 4

Despite nearly suffering a major knee injury in Week 3, it appears that Kelvin Benjamin will be active against the New England Patriots in Week 4.

In Week 4, the New England Patriots will be hosting the Carolina Panthers. This will be a showdown between two teams that are 2-1, and also two teams that aren’t an impressive 2-1.

While much of the attention for the struggles of the Patriots is because of their defense, it has been the offense of the Panthers that has been questioned so far this season. Coming off of offseason surgery, Cam Newton simply does not look right through three games.

Newton has missed a lot of throws early on, and it has clearly affected the offense. However, as a good quarterback, Newton will likely get going eventually this season, as he kicks off the rust from the offseason surgery.

Despite Newton struggling this season, there are a lot of weapons surrounding him on offense. Last week, the Panthers suffered a major scare when Kelvin Benjamin had his leg stuck underneath him awkwardly. Despite it looking like a potential major knee injury, Benjamin has been able to practice and should be good to go on Sunday.

"“Did a nice job of moving around,” coach Ron Rivera said to David Newton of ESPN.com. “Looked good out there. He really did.”"

Having Benjamin in the lineup is certainly good news for the Panthers in Week 4. As their No.1 wide receiver, Newton and the Panthers’ struggling offense likely wouldn’t have been able to turn things around without Benjamin.

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Now, Benjamin will likely draw a tough matchup against either Stephon Gilmore or Malcolm Butler. Both Benjamin and Devin Funchess create a lot of matchup problems for opposing cornerbacks because of their size. While Butler is a bit undersized at cornerback, this was certainly one of the reasons why Gilmore was brought it.

It will be interesting to see if it is Gilmore who shadows Benjamin, as that could be an excellent matchup to watch.