With spots at the bottom of the roster yet to be decided, the Panthers begin their preseason tests of strength with the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. While coaches have been impressed with some players during training camp, there’s a big difference between the guy who’s sleeping in the dorm room next to you lined up against you in shells and a player desperate to make the opposition’s roster who knows that your success means his failure. While there are four preseason games to go, for some players, this is their best chance to catch the coaches’ eye.
Catch it early, earn more playing time and vault yourself onto the roster – play poorly in Week 1 and lose your reps to another bubble player who flashed.
No pressure.
“The nice thing is we have four games to judge these guys on,” said Ron Rivera after practice Tuesday. “But if you play well in the first one, you give yourself an opportunity in the second game to play more, and that’s probably the biggest thing these guys have to understand. I told that to the young guys when we circled up, we talk about opportunities, this is one of the biggest opportunities because we’re not playing the veterans a lot. We’re not going to play the ones a lot, so they’re going to get the majority of the snaps.”
Let’s take a look at the players you should be paying attention to on Thursday night in Chicago. Don’t tell these guys preseason doesn’t matter.
Nickel Corner: Javien Elliott vs. Corn Elder vs. Cole Luke
With the signing of Tre Boston, the number of spots at cornerback decreased by one as Rashaan Gaulden will likely take up the ‘big nickel’ spot on the opening day roster and lineup – that leaves a big (but actually small) hole at the actual nickel cornerback spot. The Panthers line up in the ‘big nickel’ about 25-30% of the time, but a nickelback – last year it was Captain Munnerlyn – is on the field for almost 60% of the snaps – while the base may have changed from 4-3 to 3-4, the offense couldn’t care less what base defense the Panthers are in and will try their best to force mismatches.
“We’ve been doing it for years now,” said Ron Rivera. “I think last year we played in our sub packages for 58% of the time, it’s some crazy number. It’s no longer that you’re in base all the way up until third down, now, you can be in base once every five plays – so the game is changing a lot.”
So the nickel cornerback is a sneaky important position – after Cole Luke got the first-team reps for much of the spring, Corn Elder has seen some time in that spot and Javien Elliott, who Rivera called “a natural nickel” has come on this week with two strong practices in a row, including a goalline interception of Cam Newton – which Elder matched with one of his own the next day. One of these guys may be on the field a lot in 2019, so it will be important to see how they translate from the practice fields to the game.
Front Seven: Bryan Cox, Jr. Vs. Efe Obada vs. Marquis Haynes
JUICE!
This is less of a question of quality of play and more of a question of where these players will line up. With Obada taking reps on the line backing up players like Kawann Short and Gerald McCoy and Bryan Cox, Jr. working out with the outside linebackers, it will be fascinating to see where these players, both of whom had flashes last year but never showed their full potential, will fit into this defensive scheme.
There will also be a more natural fit for them in the 4-3 if the Panthers run it when their nickel package is on the field.
Haynes knows exactly where he’ll be lining up and has the potential to shine in the 3-4 base defense, the question now is will he be able to take advantage of the opportunity he’s been presented with?
Up Next: Offensive Question Marks
