The Panthers’ playoff chances are long gone, Cam Newton has been sat with a shoulder injury and his backup, Taylor Heinicke, lasted just one game before going down with an injury – plus the offensive line which has been mediocre at best this season has looked even less than that following a rash of injuries. In short, things aren’t going great, and with the Saints resting their star quarterback on Sunday the game is threatening to be something of an unwatchable nightmare.
However, there are reasons to tune in on Sunday, even if those reasons have more to do with the 2019 Panthers than the 2018 ones. So who should Panther fans be watching on Sunday with so many new faces on the field?
DJ Moore
DJ Moore has been good this season, putting up nearly 900 yards from scrimmage with fewer than 90 featured snaps (carries plus targets) and has encouragingly been better during the second half of the season than he was in the first. What remains to be seen, however, is just how good Moore is, and whether going into 2019 the Panthers can expect him, Curtis Samuel and Jarius Wright to carry the passing game or whether, in the likely event of Devin Funchess signing elsewhere, the Panthers will need to add another piece to the mix.
Moore does a lot of things well – his ability after the catch is remarkable – but what will be important to note on Sunday is how he does at the things he doesn’t always do so well; namely, how he gets off the line of scrimmage against press and how he is able to separate against man coverage as a route runner. Given that the Saints typically run a lot of man coverage, this would be a good game to judge those two things, not just for Moore but also for Samuel – the two expected to play the majority of the snaps on the outside next season. If Moore can show the ability to consistently get off the line, into his routes and away from his defenders, the Panthers should be happy.
The other area where it will be important for Moore to be a factor is in the red zone, as while it would be hard to say that Funchess is a much better receiver than the likes of Moore, Samuel and Wright, what he does offer different from them is the size to be a real factor on the outside in the red zone. This doesn’t mean that the others can’t be effective inside the 20, but that they probably aren’t going to be catching fades anytime soon. The only exception to this might be Moore, who is slightly taller than the other two, but more importantly has longer arms and a better vertical. The sample sizes from one game might not mean a huge amount, but if Moore could show he can offer a genuine outside option in the red zone, that would go some way to alleviating concerns about how the loss of Funchess could impact the red zone offense.
Tyler Larsen
Ryan Kalil’s been on the decline for a year or two now, something that hasn’t been helped by injury, but before that he was one of the best – if not the best – centers in the NFL. When he retires this offseason, the Panthers are going to have to fill that hole, and while they need to avoid setting themselves the impossible target of getting a new All-Pro, they do need to find a solid replacement. The first option for that will likely be Tyler Larsen, whom the Panthers signed to an extension this past offseason – with Trai Turner possibly missing Sunday’s game with an injury, the Panthers might well view it as something of a final audition for Larsen at guard.
He did play a number of snaps when Turner went out against the Falcons, and while he wasn’t terrible, he didn’t exactly look like somebody they’d want to be starting over the course of the season; something that is further supported by the size of the contract he was given last offseason which, while not money most of us will ever see in our lives, was not the kind of money a starting center is likely to attract. However, if he is able to put out a solid performance against the Saints, this could change some minds – or at the very least give his supporters inside the front office a little more evidence to bang the table with.
Efe Obada
Efe Obada has really flashed at times this season, not just in terms of his athleticism but also in terms of his ever-improving tape with regards to technique. As an exclusive-rights free agent, his return to the Panthers next season should be a foregone conclusion at this point – the questions are more about how big a role he is willing to take on. Mario Addison will return as one starter, but beyond that, the defensive end group is very up in the air. Wes Horton was expected to build on last season in a contract year, but has largely disappointed and, while he will hopefully be back with the Panthers next season, he is a rotation piece and not a starter. The question is – can the same be said for Obada as well?
For Obada to give himself a legitimate shot at winning a starting role he needs to do show that he can stack up as a run defender and can be effective when his workload is stepped up from a few dozen snaps to a major stake in the defensive line rotation. As with all of the players on this list, it will be hard to see enough in one game to make a definitive decision, but if Obada can offer enough hope, it could go some of the way to determining quite how hard the Panthers go after a defensive end this offseason. They’re going to make it a priority, but whether it is the priority is what is hanging in the balance.
Jermaine Carter, Jr.
LB Jermaine Carter Jr
Thomas Davis might not be gone this offseason, but David Mayo almost certainly will be, and that means that at the very least, the #4 LB role is going to be up for grabs – at this point it’s Carter’s to lose. Even earlier this season when Thomas Davis was suspended, the Panthers turned to Carter over Mayo in some passing situations after a promising stint in the preseason. It would be dishonest to suggest the play of Carter will have no impact on how the Panthers approach negotiations with Davis this offseason, and a really strong game against the Saints might mean the Panthers feel a little less urgency when negotiating.
For Carter, the questions are more about discipline, play speed and consistency than anything else. The NFL game just moves faster than the college one and he needs to show the ability to diagnose gap shifts in real time on a consistent basis, something that it is far from a given that he will be able to do; if he can, however, it should make the transition from Davis and Thompson to Thompson and Carter something Panthers fans should be expecting to see sooner rather than later.
Rashaan Gaulden
DB Rashaan Gaulden
News has surfaced this week that the Panthers have begun to reach out to Eric Reid about a contract extension; while this is absolutely the right thing to do and something that the Panthers will want to get done sooner rather than later – even if they do get Reid to sign on the dotted line, that still leaves them short of a deep safety. The only player on the roster with any chance of being the solution to this problem is Rashaan Gaulden, and while he got some snaps in rotation with Mike Adams against the Falcons, that could well be expanded to more a starter-type role against the Saints. Deep safety could be one of the Panthers biggest needs this offseason; if they don’t think Gaulden can fill that gap, they need to have a firm idea of what they have in him before the season is out.
For Gaulden to assuage some fears, he needs to do a number of things, the biggest of which will be to work the field as a deep safety. If he can do a better job of giving help over the top than Mike Adams has at times this season, the Panthers may feel happier adding somebody to act more as a backup and mentor than feeling they have to find somebody to start right away. Of course, he also needs to hold up in run support and in underneath coverage, but what he has the potential to add compared to the other players on the roster is the speed on the back end to take away the ball over the top.
It is too late for Gaulden to save the Panthers’ pass defense stats for this season, but if deep zone coverage looks beyond him, the Panthers will have little choice but to look outside for a safety – yet again – this offseason.
