The Carolina Panthers are not making the playoffs.

Even if they mathematically still can, they shouldn’t want to.

While the old adage that every team in the playoffs has a chance, and that the 2014 Panthers could prove a good example, that was a team that had a home playoff game and had finished the season strong after a poor start with a core of young talent, and the team they beat was a Cardinals team that had limped to a wild-card spot without their star quarterback; the 2018 Panthers look a lot more like the 2014 Cardinals than the 2014 Panthers.

In short, this team isn’t winning a title with Cam Newton playing hurt the way he is – not unless Taylor Heinicke is some hidden superstar, and that seems somewhat unlikely. So, what is there to make a Panthers fan bother watching the final two regular season games besides blind loyalty, and what, if anything, can the Panthers hope to get out of these games for 2019 and beyond?

Don’t Be Tempted

There are things the Panthers can gain from these next two games, but first, they have to minimize what they can lose. Cam Newton is clearly hurt, and while it is still unclear whether he will opt for another offseason surgery, what is clear that this is an injury that is going to take time to heal and will only get worse if he continues to play in the state he is in now. For a long term fix, he will likely need a long-term rehab plan and even some work on reducing shoulder stress through improved mechanics, but all of that is going to have to start with him not making it any worse. He is the most valuable player on the roster, jeopardizing his long-term health for a couple of meaningless games and some pride is foolish at best and verging on negligent. The Panthers have already decided that Cam won’t play against the Falcons, but should the Panthers manage to come away with a win against Atlanta with the Lions and Texans winning, they need to resist the temptation to play Cam against the Saints in an attempt to chase the slimmest of playoff odds.

While the Panthers’ other main stars aren’t suffering from injuries in the same way that Cam is, reducing the workload of players such as Luke Kuechly, Christian McCaffrey and Kawann Short would also make sense. None of these players really have anything left to demonstrate to secure their roles going forwards and exposing them to injuries would be foolish. This doesn’t have to be a case of shutting them down for the season, but for CMC and KK, it might mean reducing the number of snaps they see in their respective rotations and for Luke, it would likely mean taking him out should the Panthers fall behind in a significant way. This isn’t the most positive of strategies, but this team should be looking to contend in 2019 with a healthy Cam, some coaching changes and some additional pieces, and risking that for a meaningless win over the Falcons would be irresponsible.

Start Rashaan Gualden

The Panthers have had a lot of issues on defense this season, and while they seem to have got things back on track over the past couple of games with Rivera calling plays again, for most of the season, the big issues have largely hidden the small. One of these smaller issues is the Panthers lack of a deep-field safety, as while both Mike Adams and Eric Reid have been used in this way this season, Reid has always been a box safety and Adams no longer has the speed needed to effectively play the deep middle in the NFL. Both players are pending free agents this offseason and while there is a good chance that at least one of them returns to play in Panthers’ colors in 2019, that would still leave the Panthers without a natural free safety.

When the Panthers drafted Gaulden in the third round of the 2018 draft they made it clear that the plan was to convert him from nickel corner, where he played at Tennessee, to safety – while he hasn’t looked amazing in the limited game time he has had so far this season, the Panthers need to throw him into the fire to a certain degree to see what it is they have in him. If Gaulden looks to be ready to start, that takes a major need off the board for the offseason – if he isn’t, the Panthers won’t waste yet another season finding that out. Gaulden doesn’t have to look like an All-Pro, but if he looks out of his depth against the Falcons, that is a sign that the Panthers need to be exploring other options this offseason.

 

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Vincent Richardson on Twitter
Vincent Richardson
Managing Editor at Riot Report
Fan of zone coverage, knee bend and running backs running routes. Twitter: @vrichardson444