Tough Question: Getting The Olsen-Thomas Balance Right
Of course, a lot of this balance is going to come down to how the Panthers feel about Olsen’s health and the most effective way of managing it going forward, but it would be a surprise not to see both of these players get significant playing time if both are completely healthy. What is true, at this point, is that Greg Olsen was an excellent player, but probably isn’t quite as good as he once was – and that Ian Thomas might become an excellent player, but probably isn’t quite as good as he is going to be with another year or two of development.
The key for the Panthers will be to try and tune their rotations in order to get the most out of both players without either running Olsen into the ground or putting too much on Thomas’ plate too early.
The key is really going to be how far along Thomas looks compared to the end of last season, as while he made tremendous strides in terms of his blocking, he can still improve further in this regard – as with many young tight ends, his development as a route runner is likely to be an ongoing process, having only been asked to run a handful of different routes in college.
This is something that may well evolve as the season goes on, as if last year is any indication, Thomas’ development should continue well past the end of training camp – but it would be a surprise if the early rotations weren’t slanted towards Olsen, though as it has been for the past couple of seasons, staying healthy will likely be his biggest challenge.
Not Really A Question: Jarius Wright
Jarius Wright has a specific role in the Panthers’ offense – namely that of a possession slot receiver who can occasionally line up outside and run the odd deeper route. He is in the somewhat unusual situation of being tied into a role before training camp starts – it would take a lot for him to emerge above either Samuel or Moore on the depth chart, but at the same time it’s hard to see anybody beating him to the #3 WR spot.
Wright is unlikely to be a 1,000 yard receiver in 2019, but it pays to have players who are very good at a specific role – and that’s where Wright fits in.
The True Battles: The Veteran Rotation Options
The Panthers have a number of veteran options at both receiver and tight end – while it would be hard to guarantee that any one of them makes the roster, the majority of the remaining roster spots are likely to come from this group.
At tight end, Chris Manhertz and Alex Armah have both been mostly used as blockers to this point, and while there is still a role for somebody who can block on the Panthers’ roster, with Thomas’ continued development in this regard, it will become harder and harder to justify spending two roster spots on specialist blockers. This likely means one of two things – either one of these two risks seeing themselves on the outside looking in come September or that one, or both, will need to be able to show the ability to contribute more significantly in other ways, most likely as receivers.
At wide receiver, the Panthers have three options when it comes to veteran receivers, with Torrey Smith, Chris Hogan and Aldrick Robinson all standing a reasonable chance of making the final roster. Smith and Hogan in particular offer the Panthers the experience of being a veteran piece on a championship team, which seems to be something they value and makes sense given the youth of their starting wide receiver pair.
All three are also vaguely similar players, as while all offer slightly different things, they all base their games around being deep threats. I think it is likely that at least one of Hogan and Smith make the final roster – and likely two of the above three – it would probably be a surprise to see all three players make the cut unless the younger receivers in camp all disappoint.
Lingering Questions: The Guys On The Edge
Rookie WR Terry Godwin
As long as injuries continue to be a thing, there is always a chance that players who enter training camp not expected to make the 53 are able to find their way onto a roster. However, there is also a chance that one or more of these guys are able to get a spot without any such help – while the Panthers under Ron Rivera have tended to stick with similar faces more often than they perhaps should have, that doesn’t mean that that couldn’t change under new ownership.
This is probably most likely at wide receiver, where both Terry Godwin and Rashad Ross have a chance to win a spot as either the #5 or #6 receiver, aided in part by their potential contributions in the return game. Godwin will likely face the harder path to the roster, as there is a big gap from what he was asked to do at Georgia to what he will need to be able to do at the NFL level from a route running point of view, but he can certainly catch. Ross hasn’t got a bad pair of hands either, but at this point, he is the more proven route runner – given the lack of clear return options on the Panthers’ roster, this is likely the easiest path to a roster spot for any of the receivers in the group.
There is certainly no shortage of options at tight end outside those already mentioned after the Panthers added multiple new faces to the training camp group, but after a strong showing last training camp, Jason Vander Laan is possibly the first in line when it comes to trying to beat out either Armah or Manhertz for a roster spot. Of course, there is no guarantee the Panthers carry four tight ends again this year – given the lack of taller receivers on the roster, there is a chance they want to have another bigger receiving option just in case, and Vander Laan certainly fills that description.
That doesn’t mean that Marcus Baugh, Temarrick Hemmingway, Cole Hunt, Ethan Wolf, Damion Jeanpierre, Andre Levrone or DeAndrew White can’t make the final roster or perhaps snag a practice squad spot, but given the number of these players all vying for a chance, it is very much going to come down to who has the best camp, with little separating this group based on what they have – or more realistically haven’t – shown to this point. The way the preseason and training camp works, all of these guys will have a shot to impress, but who, if any of them, will make the most of that opportunity is anybody’s guess, and my wild stab in the dark would be that DeAndrew White – who was one of the pass catchers in San Diego working with Cam Newton this week – maybe has more of a chance than some people realize.
There are always a lot of bodies brought into camp to catch passes – while for some of the bigger names, this process is more about development than about carving out a role, as you go down the respective depth charts, there are going to be guys trying to win jobs.
Most of them aren’t going to be successful, but there’ll likely be a few spectacular plays during the battle.
