Pass Rushing
Dontari Poe is certainly not known for his pass rushing, and while this is not the reason why the Panthers signed him to a three-year, $27m deal, it is the area where he appears to offer the biggest upgrade over Lotulelei. What he does offer in common with Star is the ability to push the pocket, thereby preventing the quarterback from being able to step up and away from the edge rushers. This doesn’t tend to show up on the stat sheet, but instead creates opportunities for others:
Where Poe is able to build on this is on his ability to then disengage and put pressure on the quarterback directly. Given how often Star was left in solo pass protection situations in recent years, this was an area where he was quite disappointing. On both of the following plays, Poe starts by pushing the offensive lineman back, in the first case to maintain gap discipline throughout the run fake, before pulling the blocker off balance and ripping to disengage with great effect:
Poe shows excellent quickness for a man his size, and combined with nuanced hand usage, this allows him to wreak havoc when left alone one-on-one; his favorite weapon is a highly developed inside swim move, which he uses to great effect on plays like the following:
This is a level of pass rushing sophistication that Star was simply never able to attain; in addition to this swim move, he also showed a decent ability to dip-and-rip in order to get penetration:
This is not only effective in itself, but creates opportunities for stunts and other such moves by the defensive ends. What all this means is that, in addition to being helped onto on some plays as seen above, Poe often attracted multiple blockers in pass rushing situations, such as on plays like the following:
Whereas in the past, teams were able to single-team Star Lotulelei on passing downs in order to double KK Short, if teams do this with Poe he offers a far more substantial pass rushing threat and will ultimately make teams pay for their blocking hubris. It will therefore be interesting to see how the Panthers mix up their rotations in order to get favorable matchups for different players. While Kyle Love is actually a highly underrated rotation piece, different combinations of Poe, Short and Butler have real potential to cause chaos for offenses in terms of blocking assignments in pass protection. Both Short and Butler have seen double teams on most passing downs as teams could help off of Star and, to a lesser extent, Love, but with Poe this simply will not be possible in the same way.
While it might seem too good to be true, the Panthers may well have managed to add a younger, better player than Star Lotulelei at a lower price. While Star is undoubtedly an excellent run defender, Poe’s potential impact on pass rushing downs offer glimpses at an even scarier Panthers’ defensive line.
Oh, and when was the last time Star did this?
