A solid slew of additions this offseason may have given the Carolina Panthers, at the very least, a better chance to compete in 2022. That, however, doesn’t necessarily give them the benefit of the doubt.
This past week, Pro Football Focus analyst Ben Linsey ranked each of the NFL’s 32 rosters—from top to bottom, from offense to defense, from strengths to weaknesses.
As far as that very last bit, it’s the quarterback position (of course) that does most of the damage to the Panthers’ outlook—helping drag them down to No. 27 on this list. Plus, winning 10 games between 2020 and 2021 shouldn’t instill much faith either.
But let’s, for a change, forget about the negatives and focus on the positives—starting with a relatively well-rounded supporting cast on offense.
“The only real question about the Panthers’ supporting cast on offense was their offensive line, and the Ikem Ekwonu, Bradley Bozeman and Austin Corbett additions should go a long way toward putting that unit on the right track,” Linsey writes. “A receiving corps consisting of DJ Moore, Robby Anderson, Terrace Marshall Jr., Rashard Higgins and Christian McCaffrey has potential with better quarterback play. Moore ranks 17th among all wide receivers in PFF’s wins above replacement metric since 2019.”
Along with their future, and likely present, left tackle in Ekwonu, the Panthers will finally field a formidable interior offensive front. That group, presumably, will feature Corbett at right guard, Bozeman at center and Brady Christensen at left guard.
They’ll be joined by that promising set of skill players. Hopefully, McCaffrey—who has played in just 10 of a possible 33 contests over the past two seasons—remains the healthy straw to stir this potent drink of an attack.
Linsey then goes on to name an “x-factor” for the upcoming campaign.
“The Panthers lost Haason Reddick and his 44 quarterback pressures from 2021 in free agency without making a big splash on the edge to replace him,” he adds. “That puts more pressure on third-year edge rusher Yetur Gross-Matos to pick up some of the slack after playing fewer than 400 defensive snaps in each of his first two seasons. Gross-Matos looks the part of an impact player at the position, but the high-end production has never been there. He has just one season with a PFF pass-rushing grade above 70.0 at the NFL or college level (his final season at Penn State in 2019).”
Although he’s served primarily as a rotational piece to start his pro career, Gross-Matos has flashed signs of promise—particularly as a run defender. He will, though, be relied upon to up his pass rushing prowess to help replace Reddick’s lost production.
If he and a handful of the franchise’s other budding youngsters step it up, they’ll certainly be a bit higher up in these rankings next summer.
