Schuetz

Saturday night Carolina Panthers center Justin Hartwig had a successful surgery on his groin on Wednesday. It was Panthers coach John Fox who disclosed the good news about the player after Saturday's practice.

Hartwig was placed on the injured reserve since Nov. 24th because of a groin surgery ending his disappointing season. This season, he has been sat out while there were only two games remaining. Coach Fox explained that he preferred Hartwig to undergo before the end of the season. Hartwig is scheduled to spend between eight to 10 weeks in rehabilitation. But the Panthers expect Hartwig to be back fully healthy and at his mawimum for the next season.

The former Titan signed with the Panthers a five-year, $17 million free-agent deal during the off-season. When Hartwig signed the deal with the Panthers, it was regarded as one of the richest contracts for a center in the NFL.

He joins the Panthers as a replacement for aging Jeff Mitchell. Indeed, the panthers decided to cut ties with Mitchell declining to re-sign him. The Panthers expected Hartwig to bolster the roster and big plans for the former Titan. Unfortunately, Hartwig has never been healthy this season.

Hartwig was forced to miss a portion of training camp because he had to undergo hernia surgery. Then Hartwig strained his groin in the season opener against Atlanta. He was benched for six games before playing sparingly against Dallas on Oct. 29th. Eventually, he re-injured the groin lifting weights a few days later and was placed on the injured reserve.

Before re-injuring his groin, Hartwig explained that he believed the groin injuries were related to the hernia and was expecting to undergo surgery. Now that surgery is over, he will have to focus on rehabilitation to come back on time for the next season.