Defensive Line (10)

Starters: Yetur Gross-Matos, Brian Burns, Kawann Short, Derrick Brown

Backups: Efe Obada, Stephen Weatherly, Chris Smith, Marquis Haynes, Bravvion Roy, Zach Kerr

New defensive line coach Mike Phair must be licking his chops after the Panthers invested three top-40 picks in the defensive line over the past two drafts to line up next to Kawann Short, who is expected to be fully recovered from a shoulder injury that cost him most of 2019. Rhule gave Efe Obada an unprompted compliment after the draft and has name-checked Marquis Haynes as the type of player that Derrick Brown should make life easier for, so they’ve been given the nod as backups along with acquisitions Weatherly and Smith.

Smith might be the odd man out after the Panthers saw so much value in Gross-Matos that they couldn’t pass him up in the second round – the staff believes Obada and Gross-Matos can both play on the outside and inside, so they’ll be highly valued on a team that is expected to move their lineman around a lot.

Linebackers (6)

Starters: Shaq Thompson, Tahir Whitehead

Backups: Jermaine Carter, Jr., Christian Miller, Andre Smith, Chris Orr

With Tahir Whitehead set to take up the MLB spot and Shaq Thompson almost certain to play 100% of the defensive snaps, I think Jermaine Carter will see less of the field than you think, with Phil Snow likely to use an extra secondary player on most downs – but that’s a discussion for later in the offseason. Christian Miller told me at the end of last season that he hoped to expand on his skillset and include more traits of a SAM linebacker, so I’ll put him here for now and Andre Smith played the most special teams snaps of any player not named Colin Jones last season. Wisconsin’s Chris Orr is a stand-in for one of the four UDFAs they signed after the draft – I’d expect at least one of them to make the team, if only for a special teams role a la Jordan Kunaszyk in 2019.

Secondary (9)

Starters: Donte Jackson, Troy Pride, Jr, Tre Boston, Juston Burris, Jeremy Chinn

Backups: Veteran CB still to be signed, Stan Thomas-Oliver, Kenny Robinson, Natrell Jamerson

With Troy Pride assumed to take the starting role – Rhule said after the draft that “in terms of where our roster is, the guys we have coming back, we are going to have to depend on rookies” – opposite Donte Jackson, I’m guessing Phil Snow has an extra secondary defender, like the versatile Chinn, on the field to offer some help. Baylor ran a three-safety set at times last season, and I think we’ll be seeing that in 2020 as well.

With the Panthers one camp injury from seventh-rounder Stan Thomas-Oliver matching up with Chris Godwin or Mike Evans, expect them to bring in at least one, and maybe a couple, veteran corner; Marty Hurney spoke glowingly of the versatility of Natrell Jamerson last season and he’s still only 24 years old, so if he’s healthy, he may get that final roster spot.

Specialists (3)

Starters: Joey Slye, Michael Palardy, JJ Jansen

While Gano and Slye will battle during training camp, I’ll give the slight edge to the younger/cheaper Slye here – don’t be surprised if Hurney tries to trade one of his two kickers as the season approaches. Michael Palardy had a quietly good season in 2019, averaging 46 yards per punt – and JJ Jansen isn’t going anywhere.

Josh Klein

Editor-In-Chief at The Riot Report

Josh Klein is Editor-In-Chief of The Riot Report. His favorite Panther of all time is Chad Cota and he once AIM chatted with Kevin Greene. Follow Josh on Twitter @joshkleinrules.