The Panthers exited the NFL Draft Saturday evening with multiple holes on their roster addressed, but still questions to be answered.
Help may be on the way next week.
While the team added a game-breaker on offense in DJ Moore and upgraded the speed and talent in their defensive secondary with DB Rashaan Gaulden and CB Donte Jackson – it’s an important bit of non-specficity when it comes to Gaulden, who is expected to compete at safety after playing multiple positions at Tennessee – if you need proof of just how flexible Gaulden’s role is, the official Panthers team roster has nine cornerbacks and six safeties listed – there’s one defensive back – Rashaan Gaulden. They added a TE2 with a ton of upside in Indiana’s Ian Thomas and addressed their linebacker depth issues (at least for the first four games of the season) by bringing in Jermaine Carter and Andre Smith to compete for a depth slot on the roster. And let’s not forget about the all-time Ole Miss sacks leader, Marquis Haynes, who along with Daeshon Hall will bring an injection of youth to a defensive line that is already one of the best in the league.
But there are still holes in this roster that must be addressed, perhaps the biggest one being the Norwell-sized hole that a certain all-pro left at guard when he became one of the highest paid linemen in the league in Jacksonville – but could the answer be on the roster already? Ron Rivera thinks it might be.
“These guys have got to step up. We’ve got a young group of guys that show some flashes of ability, but now we want to see it in action and give everyone an opportunity,” Rivera said after the draft concluded and his team left with only undrafted interior lineman signed to the team. “I mean, Coach (John) Matsko’s going to mix in a different variety group of guys out there every day and we’re going to play the best player.”
“We think Taylor (Moton) is a solid football player, that’s why we drafted him. He’s a big, physical guy. We like what Tyler (Larsen) brings to the table. Tyler actually came to us as a guard, it just so happened that he had some center ability. Greg Van Roten is another guy that has played center/guard for us, a guy that may get some opportunities for us as well. Amini Silatolu’s a guy we brought in, drafted, played the left guard, started until he got hurt, and then Andrew came in and he was a stalwart for us there for a long, long time. Blaine Clausell is another young guy that we think has an opportunity.”
Rivera didn’t mention Jeremiah Sirles, the free agent that was signed from the Minnesota Vikings this offseason who specifically said that one of the reasons he signed in Carolina was that he would get the opportunity to start at guard – a wide-open competition for a key cog in an offense that leans heavily on the run and is expected to compete for a Super Bowl isn’t usually available.
The same questions abound at the running back position, where it was posited that the Panthers might find another player to pair with second-year pro Christian McCaffrey in the backfield through the draft, but only signed Louisville weapon Reggie Bonnafon – who lined up at quarterback as much as he did running back – this weekend after the draft concluded. Rivera said after the draft that the first crack at the starting running back slot would go to fourth-year runner Cameron Artis-Payne.
“He’ll have an opportunity,” the head coach said about Artis-Payne getting his chance. “Exactly that. He’ll have that. Just like last year, and a lot of people thought he was on the bubble and he proved to us that he deserves to get that ”
But if the answer doesn’t lie on the roster, why haven’t the Panthers tried to bring in free agents to fill some of their roster deficiencies? The answer lies in compensatory draft picks.
Much has been made of the so-called “comp picks”, but without going into too much detail on the extremely complicated system that grants teams additional draft picks, teams are given picks when free agents leave – anywhere from third to seventh depending on a multitude of factors, including salary, playing time and postseason honors; pertinent for the Panthers is that if you ‘gain’ the same number of free agents as you ‘lose’, the team can only be granted a seventh-round compensatory pick. If you ‘lose’ more than you ‘gain’, then you can receive picks anywhere in that third to seventh round range.
Table Courtesy: OverTheCap.com
Currently, the Panthers have ‘lost’ more players than they’ve ‘gained’ – so they are due at least a third-round compensatory pick, the highest possible pick due to the loss of an All-Pro player making a huge salary like Andrew Norwell – if the Panthers were to sign a free agent tomorrow, the numbers would even out and the Panthers would only be eligible for a seventh-rounder, because the next free agent signed would ‘cancel out’ the highest available comp pick, which is a third rounder. That may be confusing as all get out, but you won’t need to remember it for much longer, because all that is about to change.
May 8th is the deadline for a player’s prior club to send “May 8 Tenders” to its unsigned Unrestricted Free Agents, essentially meaning that any player who is considered a free agent is free to sign with any team with no draft choice compensation owed to his old team – after 4p on May 8th, the handcuffs will be off of the Panthers, who can sign any free agent with no fear of losing that compensatory pick in the 2019 draft – it’s only at that time you may see the team addressing their needs by potentially signing a free agent running back or interior lineman.
“From a personnel standpoint you’re always looking at all avenues so it doesn’t stop after the Draft,” said GM Marty Hurney. “We’re still going to look for ways to upgrade our team if we think that we can do that. I tell Ron all the time, “training camp’s not until the end of July,” so it’s just a fluid process.”
Should they decide to pull the trigger on a free agent, there are multiple that could help the roster immediately – running backs Orleans Darkwa, CJ Anderson (who technically doesn’t apply to the formula because he was released by the Broncos – told you this was confusing) and Alfred Morris are all under 30 and have been successful – Anderson broke the thousand yard mark as recently as last season; safety has veteran options as well: Tre Boston, Tyvon Branch and Eric Reid are all currently unemployed. While the interior lineman market shelves are not overflowing with options, a player like Jahri Evans started games for the Packers last season and could be a veteran to add competition at the left guard spot, and players are certain to be cut by their own teams over the next few months.
Whatever happens, don’t expect the Panthers to make any moves before May 8th. But after that, all bets are off.
