Let’s not mince words – it won’t be easy for the Panthers to replace Kawann Short, on the field or off of it.
When they sent their star defensive tackle to injured reserve earlier this week, they weren’t just sending a run stuffer that can dominate the trenches and they weren’t just sending the man with the third-most sacks among NFL defensive tackles since 2015 to have surgery to repair his partially torn rotator cuff – they were losing a captain, a leader and a locker room presence.
“There is no replacing a guy like that,” said Gerald McCoy. “But we’ve got tons of guys here who can play.”
So the idea of replacing Short isn’t something that’s going to get done with one man – it’s going to take the entire defense stepping up and filling in the many roles that Short had as one of five captains voted into the position by his teammates.
McCoy has been wearing the captain patch since Week 2 and in Short’s stead – and even though he’s new to the team, his leadership immediately caught the attention of the coaches.
“You don’t just come in and gain respect. You have to earn it,” McCoy said during training camp.
“[Gerald has] responded very well in those last two games – you can see his veteran leadership step up and that’s one of the fortunate things about having a guy like that in the locker room that’s just come to you,” said Ron Rivera this week. “It’s that he’s – I don’t want to say plug-and-play, but he steps up into that role and he’s done a nice job with it.”
Another guy who’s been leading, even though he hasn’t necessarily been on the field on Sundays, has been veteran DE/OLB Bruce Irvin. Irvin missed the first three weeks of the season with a lingering hamstring injury, but he’s already putting his stamp on this defense – he had a key sack in the fourth quarter of the Panthers’ Week 5 win and has been vocal on the practice fields and in the locker room.
“Bruce has helped that group of young rushers to understand what it takes – Bruce is a tough, physical football player and a lot of these young guys see that and they see how much of a pro he is,” said Rivera. “So we’re fortunate to have those kind of veteran guys that are helping to offset the loss of KK.”
It’s leadership from Irvin, Addison, McCoy and others that will be necessary with the young contributors the team has on defense, whether it’s rookie defensive end Brian Burns, who said Short was helping to teach him how to react quicker – specifically against jump sets of tackles on the outside – and that “in there, it’s real tight so his hands are ridiculous,” or the man who many say will need to step up in Short’s season-long absence, Vernon Butler.
While the former first-round pick has undoubtedly not been as productive as the Panthers would have hoped – he has only three sacks and three tackles for loss in 40 career games – when called upon last week, he stepped up with a big play.
Eric Washington went to Butler on the sidelines and told him to go and make something happen – Butler told his defensive coordinator “I got you,” and then forced a fumble that gave the Panthers the ball back up three late in the fourth quarter.
“When you get your opportunity, when you’re on the field, we need quality snaps. What will end up happening is some roles will expand and increase – at the end of the day, especially with our defense, we have to be productive,” said defensive coordinator Eric Washington. “A guy like Vernon Butler is a great example of that – he went in the game last week and he was productive.”
“With an increased role comes increased responsibility.”
While you can replace his snaps on the field – the Panthers have certainly done that and been successful in the past two weeks with 14 sacks as they’ve vaulted to the top of the NFL in that category – replacing Short’s presence will be a process, something the Panthers are equipped to do with the veterans in the locker room.
“You have to move forward,” said Eric Washington. “Attrition is a normal occurence in our business. You lose great players, great people all of time, unfortunately.”
“We will pick up that baton and move forward as if he was out there, that’s what we have to do.”
