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David Newton, ESPN Staff Writer
DETROIT — Panthers rookie left guard Chandler Zavala suffered a neck injury late in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions and was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
Zavala is alert and has movement in all of his extremities, a team spokesman said.
Zavala went down on a first-and-10 play from the Carolina 25-yard line with 4:44 left in the quarter. He laid motionless face down on the turf until medical staff rolled him over.
They eventually placed him on a spine board and put him on a golf cart. Zavala gave a thumbs-up to the crowd as the cart left the field.
The injury occurred on a run play in which Chuba Hubbard gained 1 yard with the Panthers down 14-0. Teammates quickly moved toward the sideline as medical staff evaluated the 6-foot-3, 322-pound player.
The entire Carolina team and staff gathered around their teammate as he was loaded onto the cart.
Zavala was a fourth-round pick out of NC State. He is the son of Demetrio Zavala, a frequent contestant on the Food Network’s cooking show “Chopped.”