While the Panthers are likely going somewhat under the radar in terms of national media coverage, there are still a number of reasons why they might fall short of their aim of a Lombardi Trophy, aside from the ever-present possibility of a catastrophic injury to a star player. Not all of these are certain to come back to hurt the Panthers, and some might not materialize at all, but below are the five biggest issues with the Panthers as the 2018 regular season approaches.
Want to have a more positive approach? Here are the five reasons why everything is going right and the Panthers will be handing Tepper the Lombardi trophy come February:
Lack of a True #1 Receiver
The Panthers might have the deepest receiving corps in recent memory and some elite offensive weapons in McCaffrey and Olsen, but what they still potentially lack is a true #1 outside receiver; something they have been without since the release of Steve Smith. While it is unlikely that any of the Panthers current receiving corps develop into the player that Smith – a future Hall of Famer – was, the coaching staff certainly haven’t given up hope that Devin Funchess can get close to this; DJ Moore certainly has that sort of upper-limit potential. However, as things stand right now, there is no receiver on the Panthers roster who Cam could trust to separate on any given down.
It should be noted that most of the recent Super Bowl champions have managed to win their titles without an elite outside receiver and that, for all their brilliance, Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham Jr. and DeAndre Hopkins have combined for two Super Bowl appearances and no rings. This is certainly a weakness that the Panthers can overcome, but it would certainly be useful to have such a player when the money’s on the table.
2. Offensive Line – Again…
When looking for reasons why the Panthers’ offense was so much more successful in 2015 than in the surrounding years, one major outlier begins to emerge: a healthy and competent offensive line. While not composed of big name players – at least at the time – the group of Oher, Norwell, Kalil, Turner and Remmers was able to carve out running lanes for Jonathan Stewart while keeping Cam upright en route to the Panthers loss to the Broncos in Super Bowl 50. Oher’s career-ending injury early the following season has led to three years of offensive line change which, while still ongoing, has led to the current grouping. While not the strongest group in the NFL, some combination of the Kalil brothers, Moton, Van Roten, Williams and Turner should at least be competent. However, with injuries to Williams and Matt Kalil, an already shaky group is looking downright precarious.
Kalil has already been placed on IR for the first half of the season, and while there is some hope that Daryl Williams will be ready to go for Week 1 that is far from a certainty. If that is the case, then Williams will almost certainly start at right tackle with Moton at left tackle for the first half of the season at least, and while that is preferable to having to start somebody signed off the street, neither of those players have proven that they have the ability to be above-average starters at the NFL level. On the interior, Trai Turner will hopefully continue his consistently high level of play and Ryan Kalil has enough experience to get the most out of what is left of his athleticism, but Greg Van Roten at left guard is yet another unknown. This group will likely get a strong test against the Cowboys – if this group can play at anything like an NFL-average level, the Panthers should be just fine up front. This is not a group they need to be dominant in order to win games, but a season like 2016 or early 2014 could leave Cam Newton running for his life and the Panthers running game shuddering to a halt.
3. Edge Rushing Depth
The front seven is undoubtedly a strength of the Panthers’ defense, and while the defensive tackle and linebacker groups have the kind of depth that GMs dream about, the defensive end position looks somewhat more uncertain. The Panthers’ top three defensive ends combined for 27.5 sacks last season, better than four entire NFL teams, but it would be unreasonable to expect them to repeat such a feat, especially as Peppers gets ever closer to the end of his Hall of Fame career. With that in mind, the Panthers will likely expect some of the players behind them to contribute to the pass rushing efforts, and that is where some concern should be directed.
Bryan Cox, Jr. played in seven games last season, and while he didn’t see many snaps in most of those games he didn’t manage a sack, something that has continued into this preseason. While Marquis Haynes and Efe Obada have each added a sack during the preseason, both are likely to take some time to work themselves up to full game speed – as with the receiver group, this is not something which stands as a clear and marked obstacle to the Panthers’ Super Bowl hopes, but unless this group is able to outperform expectations – or the three main edge rushers are able to repeat their 2017 production – the lack of an edge rush could come to hurt the Panthers when it comes to stopping the NFL’s elite passing attacks.
4. Secondary Uncertainty
Going into the preseason, the attitude around the NFL seemed to be that the Panthers secondary was going to be among the league’s worst. After all, the team had been exposed by Wilks’ blitz-happy defense, Captain Munnerlyn had been benched at one point in the 2017 season due to poor play, Daryl Worley had been traded to the Eagles and Kurt Coleman had been released before signing with the Saints. Free agent signings Ross Cockrell and Da’Norris Searcy had failed to attract much media attention and rookies Donte Jackson and Rashaan Gaulden were always going to be question marks when it came to their short-term impact. Despite all of this, the Panthers secondary actually wasn’t without positives – Jackson looked to be a perfect fit for a division featuring the likes of Ted Ginn and DeSean Jackson and, while not a big name, Ross Cockrell had shown himself to be a starting caliber outside corner. If all went well, this could actually be a strength for the Panthers.
While there is still a lot to be hopeful about in terms of this group, the injury to Cockrell has put a spanner in the works to some extent. Without Cockrell, Jackson will not only be forced into a major role from the start, but he will also be expected to cover bigger receivers such as Sanu and Godwin, with Munnerlyn then being forced to deal with whomever lines up in the slot. Jackson may well be up to this task, but there is little doubt that Jackson and Munnerlyn is a downgrade from Cockrell and Jackson, and teams which can put three or more good receivers on the field at one time could pose real problems for the Panthers’ defense.
At safety there are also concerns, with the lack of a clear starter at free safety being due to issues with both of the two options. Searcy clearly has some limitations in coverage, while Gaulden doesn’t appear to be quite up to speed at this point. This doesn’t mean that this grouping will be a disaster, but rather that there are a number of yet unanswered questions whose answers could potentially be unfavorable for the Panthers.
5. New Coaching Look
While a change of coaching has every chance of doing an awful lot of good for the Panthers, an improvement is certainly not guaranteed. While Norv Turner isn’t going to revolutionize the game of football, he does at least offer something of a known entity, and the offense has looked good enough in the preseason to give Panthers fans a reasonable degree of optimism going into the regular season. What his offenses have done in the past, however, is put quite a lot of pressure on the offensive line, and while some of that will be helped by a greater focus on getting the ball out quickly and a more bare-bones zone scheme than was run under Mike Shula, if the Panthers’ offensive line does struggle, it will be interesting to see how he looks to account for this without going away from his desire to consistently stretch the field.
On defense, the concerns are probably more significant, as while Eric Washington’s group was adequate during the preseason, they struggled to get off the field on third downs and didn’t get as much pressure as would have been expected given the talent available. Given that Washington has never been a defensive coordinator before, something of a learning curve is perfectly expected – if Washington is able to adapt as the season goes on then this defense hardly looks to be an issue but, as with many of the other concerns raised with the 2018 Panthers, that is a question that is still to be answered. In terms of things to be fixed based off of what Washington showed during the preseason, playing less off coverage, or at least less extreme off coverage, will likely reduce the defense’s susceptibility to screens and quick-hitting passing attacks; it should be noted that, as with all teams on both sides of the ball, the Panthers defense very likely kept some cards hidden during the preseason, and fans will only get a full picture once the team takes the field against the Cowboys on Sunday.
Some of the concerns raised here are more significant than others, with some likely the keys to the direction of the Panthers beyond the 2018 season, but all will be answered in some way or another over the coming weeks – for better or worse. If the Panthers are able to find solutions to these problems and, crucially, avoid the crippling injuries that derailed the 2016 season, this team has every chance of being there right to the very end. Likewise, if the Panthers do fall short this season, then it will very likely be due to one of the reasons listed above.
The 2018 Panthers have an excellent chance to become the first in franchise history to post consecutive winning seasons, all they need to do now is go out there and do it.
