##Team: Carolina Panthers
Division: NFC South
Record: 7-10 (4-2 Division) 2nd Place NFC South
-Home (5-4)
-Away (2-6)
Playoffs: Bizarrely close to being kings of shit mountain
Offense: 27th in DVOA
Defense: 25th in DVOA
##2022 Draft Recap:
Round 1 - 6th Overall - LT Ickey Ekwonu:
Ickey started the season a little spotty week one against the absolute mutant that is Myles Garret, which nobody should hold against really any LT, especially a rookie, but just continued to improve week over week. He came into the league highly touted as a dominant run blocker with concerns in pass pro, OL Coach James Campen and backup LT Cam Erving worked hard with Ickey to get his technique right and over the course of the season Ickey looked better and better. Carolina might just have a franchise left tackle on their hands for the first time since Jordan Gross retired. It looks like the sky's the limit for the young man, especially with continuity as Campen is returning
Round 3 - 94th Overall - QB Matt Corral:
Prior to the Baker Mayfield trade, Carolina traded back into the 3rd round (this pick was traded to Jacksonville last season for CB CJ Henderson) in a deal with New England to snag Ole Miss QB Matt Corral. Corral never really got a fair shake in pre season, playing with the 4th stringers but seems to have impressed then OC Ben Mcadoo prior to landing on IR for the year with a lisfranc injury. As it stands he is the only QB on the roster so maybe he gets a shot to compete?
Round 4 - 120th Overall - LB Brandon Smith:
Smith impressed in preseason as he seemed to be flying all over the field making plays left and right with his playing time. He started the regular season as a special teamer and racked up a couple tackles when he played a few defensive snaps in weeks 11-13. Honestly, it seems like he was drafted with Rhule’s “draft athletes and teach them how to play football” college philosophy like a lot of our defenders during Rhule’s time here, so it’ll be interesting to see if/how he fits into Evero’s system. Guy can move and make some flashy plays for sure.
Round 6 - 189th Overall - DE Amare Barno:
Barno only played in 8 games this year, only 90 snaps, but was able to accrue 2 sacks on the season. He’s a bit undersized at 246 pounds but he can fly, having a 40 time of 4.36 seconds. Carolina already has a speed rusher in Burns but a potentially good depth piece that showed some promise this year for a desperate front 7. Another guy drafted because of his athletic traits but is very raw.
Round 6 - 199th Overall - G Cade Mays:
Carolina has been troubled by OL problems for years, so Mays was brought in as depth/possible competition with young guard Brady Christensen. Mays didn’t play much this year as Carolina’s OL stayed mostly healthy the entire season. He’s got good measurables and a great OL coach so he might develop into something good and help in a pinch. Any depth at all is needed here, the OL is very top heavy.
Round 7 - 242nd Overall - CB Kalon Barnes:
4.2 40 runner, was waived before the regular season started. Seems to have bounced around some practice squads since.
As for an overall review? Ickey looks like a stud, the rest of these guys are all projects that can hopefully develop with actual NFL coaches here now. Carolina had limited resources to work with, no 2nd round pick from the Darnold trade, no 3rd from the CJ Henderson trade, it was rough. I guess I’d give the draft a C. We have a potential franchise LT and that’s good enough for me in what was otherwise a complete wash of a season.
#2022 FA Recap:
Carolina went into the 2022 off season with one key agenda, ~~Build a great wall around Sam Darnold~~ fix the Lovecraftian nightmare that was the Offensive Line.
C Bradley Bozeman was signed to a 1 year $2.8m deal and was a stud the moment they finally stopped playing Pat Elflein which just took way too long to get to. Bring him back
G Austin Corbett left LA after their superbowl win and came to Charlotte on a 3 year $26m contract and was also good-great for almost the entire season. The interior OL took a massive step forward thanks to these two.
RB D’Onta Foreman was signed to a 1 year $2m deal and became the lead back after CMC was traded. Foreman is a thumper and did very well, finishing the season with 914 yards and 5 TDs. I’d like for the team to keep Foreman if the money makes sense as he is a great complimentary piece to a backfield.
P Johnny Hekker was signed to a 3 year $7.6m deal and was an immediate jolt to an otherwise pathetic Special Teams unit. Hekker was 2nd in the league with Punts pinned inside the 20 with 39 and 8th in Gross Punt Average at 48.42 yards. I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I know how to really break down a Punter’s game here, the guy is good and we’re glad to have him
WR Rashard Higgins was signed to a 1 year $1m deal and just kind of never saw the field which nobody has been able to really figure out why. He was a solid player in the past in Cleveland and with the addition of Baker later on, it seemed like a logical fit. Carolina doesn’t have a crazy good receiver room so Higgins playing less than 1% of snaps this year just doesn’t really make any sense. Bummer that it didn’t work out here but hopefully he gets a shot again somewhere without Matt Rhule and Ben Mcadoo.
DT Matt Ioannidis was brought in from Washington on a 1 year $5.9m deal and he was a very solid plug in player in a drastic position of need. He’s getting up there in age but giving him another 2-3 years here for some cheap money would be incredibly useful as the team continues to try and build up its defense.
LB Cory Littleton was brought in on a 1 year $2.6m deal and it was a non factor. Littleton only played 32% of snaps this year which is shocking considering how bad the LB corp is here. I don’t know if it was a scheme issue or something but it just did not click here.
LB Damien Wilson was signed to a 2 year $6.9m deal and just like Littleton, didn’t really do anything with his time here. He’s likely a cap casualty as Carolina saves a little over $3.5m in cap with the cut.
S Xavier Woods joined with a 3 year $15m contract and was fine. Completely middle of the road safety who also apparently has stones for hands as I swear every other game he was dropping picks that went straight to him. He’ll stick around as hopefully we start to plan for his replacement.
Overall a solid Free Agent class, with some key contributors coming in, the biggest problem is the amount of 1 year deals to some key guys like Ioannidis and Bozeman. But overall it was pretty good.
##2022 Coaching changes:
Offense:
OC: Ben Mcadoo, WR: Joe Dailey, TE: Kevin Gilbride, OL: James Campen <3
Defense:
DC: Al Holcomb - interim ,DL: Terrance Knighton
Special Teams:
Coordinator: Chris Tabor
##Season Review:
In 2020 the Panthers hired new Head Coach Matt Rhule to a 7 year contract. Rhule had developed a reputation for turning college programs around in about 3 years and then moving on for greener pastures. As the Panthers approached the 2022 season, fans were cautiously optimistic a similar turnaround would happen as we approached the 3rd season of Rhule’s tenure and back to back disappointing 5 win seasons - especially 2021 which put Rhule on the hot seat and had some fans calling for his head already.
Which brings us to 2022-
Well okay, we’re begrudgingly stuck with Rhule for another year, maybe he can retool the coaching staff and find some better fits, fix up the OL, find a QB we can build around and the team should be on the up and up! After all the defense looked pretty good the last season, they just got exhausted mid game by how bad the offense was. Right? Right, guys? Someone please help.
First on the coaching staff, Matt Rhule knew another season like 2021 was surely going to drop the guillotine on his coaching experience in Charlotte, so he did what every smart Do-or-Die coach does and hired Ben Mcadoo to be his OC and fix that side of the ball. It’s not all bad however, as OL coach James Campen was also brought in to replace the fired Pat Meyer and immediately turned what was consistently an absolute bottom of the barrel OL into a certified top 10 unit seemingly overnight. Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor was brought in to replace the fired Chase Blackburn which also led to a massive turnaround in that phase of the game - but we’ll talk more about them later.
Sticking to the offense as that was the biggest issue the year prior, Giants fans - and well most r/nfl users - will know Ben Mcadoo very well, most famously seen using a walkie talkie on the sideline of a primetime game because of communication issues. Mcadoo was the Head Coach of the Giants for a year and some change before being fired for ruining Eli’s consecutive start streak, collectively pissing off the entire NYC metro area and just generally being bad at his job. He bounced around Jacksonville and Dallas as a QB Coach and Offensive Consultant respectively, the following two seasons before coming to Charlotte with a more modern haircut than we had previously seen on him.
Mcadoo’s offensive game plan was to be spearheaded by Cleveland’s best QB in this millenia in Baker Mayfield, who was acquired in a trade for a conditional 5th round pick after Cleveland broke the hearts of every fan by trading for Deshaun Watson. Any remaining optimistic fans were immediately greeted with a swift kick in the nuts and a fart in the face for good measure.
Mcadoo’s offense whimpered through the first five games of the season with Baker, never surpassing 24 points scored in a game even against some subpar defenses, before he was injured in week 5 in an overwhelming loss to the 9ers 37-15. The offense to start the year looked disjointed, out of sync, and so easily predictable that Baker was constantly getting passes batted at the line as teams knew exactly when and where he was going to throw the ball. It was just not a good fit - Mcadoo himself was on record saying he did not “believe” in Baker prior to the 2018 draft which saw him go first overall. CMC was almost a non factor as the run game was also very easily predictable, just look at CMC's carry map from the week 2 Giants game
It was a bummer to see Baker go down, as Carolina has not had stability at the most important position in quite some time. A collective “here we go again” was heard across every Bojangles in the Carolinas. *But* the dark cloud of another QB injury had the largest silver lining as the 1-4 start was enough to get Matt Rhule FIRED. Out of here. See ya later. Before Panthers fans could even finish their first playthrough of Celebration by Kool & the Gang, more news broke that Defensive Coordinator Phil Snow was also fired, along with Assistant Special Teams Coach Ed Foley, both of whom were lifelong Rhule coaching staff guys.
Steve Wilks - who was then the DB coach and defensive passing game coordinator - was named as the interim Head Coach, which sent a lot of Panthers fans into nostalgic euphoria as Wilks was on the staff as DB coach and eventual DC during the Rivera/Cam era - or the last time anyone had a reason to be excited about this franchise.
The excitement quickly wore off as the Rams quickly reminded everyone that we were still in fact the Panthers handing us a 24-10 loss that saw now starting QB PJ Walker throw for only 90 yards the entire game in Wilks’ first game as interim. The same game saw disgruntled and overpaid WR Robbie Anderson have a meltdown on the sideline and get kicked out of the game by Wilks himself. Anderson was traded the following day to the Cardinals for a 2024 6th round pick and a 2025 7th round pick. Fans were impressed by Wilks’ no-nonsense approach and also excited to get Robbie off the payroll as we try to rebuild the team.
All of the joy of the previous weeks activities came to a screeching halt just 3 days after the Anderson trade as the news broke that the Panthers were sending the last - and really only - team superstar in Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers for a whole bunch of draft picks - a second, third and fourth in 2023 and a fifth in 2024. Fans were split on the reaction as some saw it as a good sign the team is taking a rebuild seriously, with others pretty upset at trading out the best weapon on the offense by a mile the year before we’re (presumably) going to draft a rookie QB with a wholly revamped coaching staff.
The now 1-5 and superstar RB-less Panthers went on to have a pretty strange stretch of games to close out the season. They immediately convincingly beat pre-season super bowl favorite Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21-3 with a pretty dominant run game and PJ Walker just playing smart, efficient football throwing for 2 touchdowns. The defense looked a little more rejuvenated as they held Tampa to just 46 team rushing yards and allowed Tampa to only convert on 2/12 3rd downs. It’s kind of boring football but hey, we beat a divisional rival. Maybe we can play spoiler to a few teams on our way down if we can just continue to dominate the trenches with the new and improved OL (praise be to James Campen).
The following week was a high scoring, thrilling overtime affair in Atlanta that saw PJ Walker rip just a ridiculous 61 yard bomb to DJ Moore to tie the game with 12 seconds left. An extra point away from another win! Until DJ was penalized for taking off his helmet in the celebration after the touchdown, pushing the point after back 15 yards and causing kicker Eddie Piniero to miss it. We went on to lose in OT to a FG. But hey, we’re not called the Cardiac Cats for nothing!
I don’t know if it was due to the deflating OT defeat after such a miraculous game tying play or if it’s because the Bengals were just firing on all cylinders, but the Panthers got absolutely slaughtered the following week in Cincy allowing Joe Mixon to accrue over 200 yards from scrimmage and score 5 touchdowns. Walker threw for 9 yards and 2 INTs while only having 3 completions on 10 attempts. The run game that looked impressive against Tampa and Atlanta in the weeks prior had disappeared off the face of the earth and Carolina just couldn’t move the ball until a newly healthy Baker Mayfield came in after the half and was able to score some garbage time points
The Panthers would go 2-1 in their next 3 games with a bad weather win over the Falcons at home, a 13-3 loss in Baltimore and a 23-10 win over Denver, the common thread being keep the game on the running backs and not the QB and we can win. These 3 games also saw 3 different starting QBs, Walker, Baker and a returning from injury Sam Darnold respectively. As the week 13 bye came and went, the Panthers were sitting at 4-8 and thanks to a generally bad year from the rest of the division and the greater NFC, found themselves still in the thick of the playoff hunt and we’re about to play meaningful december football for the first time since their last playoff appearance in 2017.
The team traveled to fellow playoff hopeful Seattle’s home field and just ran all over them after the bye, amassing 223 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground as a team. While the defense suffocated the hawks offense for most of the game, allowing only 46 rush yards, causing 2 Geno Smith INTs and adding 3 sacks. 5-8 and pretty handedly beating a playoff team was a huge boost of confidence for this young squad. The formula stayed the same, Darnold only threw for 120 yards, but we held the ball for 40 minutes to Seattle’s 20. There might be something to this.
A lot of Panthers’ fans aren’t particularly fond of the Steelers after the absolute shellacking they handed us in the 2018 season which also saw the (presumably) final straw in Cam Newton’s career, the TJ Watt hit to Cam’s shoulder knocked the star QB out for the season and he was never fully able to recover. This time it was going to be Sam Darnold vs Mitch Trubisky dueling it out for two teams desperate to string wins together to scratch and claw their way into the playoffs. Same as always, run the ball and play tough defense and we can win this game. Except Pittsuburgh also knew this and guaranteed that the committee of Hubbard/Foreman/Darnold couldn’t run the ball. A 24-16 loss saw the Panthers average 1.3 YPC and go 4-11 on 3rd downs. After the half, the steelers ran a 21 play 91 yard touchdown drive that ate up nearly 12 minutes of the clock as the defense just could not get off the field on key 3rd downs - a common thread of the Rhule era that carried into this new Wilks era.
The now 5-9 Panthers were gifted a Buccs loss that week to Cinci pushing them to 6-8 keeping the race to be the king of shit mountain alive in Charlotte. All signs were pointing towards a possible win and in scenario in week 17 when the two struggling teams would duke it out for the division. But first Detroit was coming to town and we needed to bounce back.
And by God did we bounce back handing the Detroit Lions a 37-23 ass kicking which even saw Lions coach Dan Campbell congratulate Steve Wilks on kicking their asses in the post game handshake. Carolina would rush for 320 yards breaking team records left and right and finished the game averaging 7.4 YPC. The defense was able to rack up a couple sacks on Goff but also was very susceptible to a few long plays in the air as Goff was still able to throw for 355 yards and 3 touchdowns as Carolina lost their best corner by a country mile, second year player Jaycee Horn, to a freak friendly fire hit that broke his wrist. But that’s fine and we don’t have to worry about that right? We just kicked the Lions’ asses so hard even *their* coach was excited about it! Time to head to Tampa for the division title, who would have guessed we’d be here!
All season Tampa struggled to really push the ball down the field, but a banged up Panthers secondary was just the salve Tom Brady needed to course correct. Heading into this game, Carolina was down its top 2 corners and even brought back a familiar face, veteran Josh Norman, to try and help out on the backend. Norman barely played as CJ Henderson and Keith Taylor looked like toddlers trying to cover Mike Evans. Brady finished the day 34/45 for 432 yards and 3 touchdowns, all of which came on deep ball completions to a wide open Mike Evans, as the Buccs pulled out the win 30-24 and killed the hopes of another king of shit mountain playoff run for the Panthers. Darnold had a good day, going 23/37 for 341 and 3 touchdowns. But once again, when running can’t dominate the game, Carolina just can’t find a way to squeeze out a win.
The Panthers would win a meaningless game against the Saints in the season finale 10-7, in a game that I wouldn’t fault anyone for if they said they skipped it to stare into the void for 3 hours instead as that was probably more entertaining, finishing the season 7-10, the most wins they’ve had in a season since 2018 when they also finished with 7 wins.
So, where do we go from here?
##Team Positional Group Review/Ratings: - by /u/BrickTamland77
QUARTERBACKS
Grade: F
Players: Baker Mayfield (released), Sam Darnold, PJ Walker, Jacob Eason, Matt Corral (IR)
Anytime you’ve got 4 guys who see snaps at the QB position in a season, you know it’s not good. Then again, SF just made it to the NFC Championship game because they found a hidden gem. Perhaps Matt Corral could have been our Brock Purdy, but a preseason foot injury doomed him to season-ending IR. It…it wasn’t good. The Baker Mayfield experiment was worth the price, unlike the Darnold experiment, but delivered arguably worse results. Mayfield’s happy feet, lack of accuracy, and lack of height were all apparent from the beginning of the first game. What little momentum he gained in a 2nd half rally against Cleveland was immediately extinguished by a 58 yard Cade York field goal. Once Mayfield got injured, Matt Rhule’s favorite non-NFL QB, PJ Walker, was thrust back into action due to Darnold’s preseason injury and proved shockingly, yet again, that he’s not an NFL QB. Mayfield would recover and start 2 more games, Darnold returned from injury to start the rest of the season, and looked surprisingly decent for 4 weeks, but 3 turnovers in an elimination game against TB and an abysmal closer against NO hopefully sealed his fate. Mayfield was ultimately cut, Darnold is a free agent, and Walker is an exclusive-rights free agent, leaving Corral as the only QB currently on the roster. Hopefully we’re through with QBs that have proven that they aren’t good.
RUNNINGBACKS
Grade: B+
Players: Christian McCaffrey (traded), D’Onta Foreman, Chuba Hubbard, Spencer Brown, Raheem Blackshear
McCaffrey was on his way to another productive, but ultimately wasted season, and after a 1-5 start, he was dealt to the 49ers for a package of picks. It was bittersweet to watch him finally be utilized efficiently on a balanced team, but I understand why it needed to happen. I’m just glad he rebounded after spending the majority of the last 2 seasons on IR. In his place, the duo of Foreman and Hubbard proved to be a pretty formidable and complimentary duo with Foreman being the early down and short yardage bruiser who gets better as the game goes on, and Hubbard utilizing his speed to rip off big gains once the defense was gassed. As a team, Carolina finished at #10 in rushing, and 6 of the teams above them heavily utilized the QB as a runner. Blackshear provided a few highlights as a 3rd option with some receiving skills. The reason that I couldn’t get this group up to an A was the pass blocking. Hubbard and Foreman ranked 39th and 60th respectively among RBs in PFF’s pass blocking grades, and there were a number of instances where one of them getting blown up by a blitzer resulted in a drive-killing sack. This group is solid though, and would be more than adequate going forward.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Grade: C+
Players: DJ Moore, Shi Smith, Terrace Marshall, Laviska Shenault, Andre Roberts, Rashard Higgins, Robby Anderson (traded)
The numbers weren’t great, but given the QB situation, it’s tough to put all of the blame on this group. Moore failed to extend his 1000-yard season streak to 4, and had the worst catch % of his career, but it wasn’t like he was seeing a ton of catchable passes. He still made several highlight reel plays and there was a lot of buzz about teams wanting him when it looked like Carolina was going to have a firesale after trading McCaffrey. Robby Anderson continued to have the attitude of Terrell Owens and the skill set of Robby Anderson, and was traded after 6 games. In 10 games with Arizona, he had 7 catches for 76 yards, so the fact that we got 2 picks for a guy who is likely on his way out of the league seems like a steal. Marshall flashed some of the ability we’d been hoping to see at points during the season, so maybe we’ll see some consistency in year 3. Shenault provided 2 of the best plays of the season and needs to be utilized more. Shi Smith had a couple of decent plays and had 14 1st downs on only 22 receptions, but he also put the ball on the turf 4 times on only 55 touches as a receiver and punt returner. Roberts was brought in to be a kick returner but spent most of the season on IR. Higgins was likely brought in because of the familiarity with Mayfield, but only played in 3 games. I believe that Moore is still a #1 if he has a good QB, but Marshall, Smith, and Shenault all feel like #3s on a good day, so we still need to add some pieces here.
TIGHT ENDS
Grade: F-
Players: Ian Thomas, Tommy Tremble, Giovanni Ricci, Stephen Sullivan
The combined numbers for this group: 50 receptions, 517 yards, 3 touchdowns. Yikes. Are we done with Ian Thomas? Can we please be done with Ian Thomas? Because I’m not sure I can mentally handle watching him get stuffed a yard short of the sticks by a CB that’s giving up 6 inches and 70 pounds to him anymore. I don’t care if they reset this entire group. None of them were in the top 50 of PFF’s TE overall grades or receiving grades. Tremble was actually #2 in pass blocking, but on only 10 snaps. In short, we had 4 TEs who weren’t particularly good at receiving or blocking, and those are kind of the only 2 things you need your TEs to do.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Grade: B-
Players: Ikem Ekwonu, Taylor Moton, Austin Corbett, Brady Christensen, Bradley Bozeman, Pat Elflein, Michael Jordan, Cam Erving, Cade Mays
The key element here was consistency. None of these guys were elite or even particularly great at anything if you go by the PFF grades, but after years of shuffling guys in and out on a weekly basis, it was nice to basically have the same 5 guys all season. Bozeman took over at center after Elflein went on IR in week 6 and started the next 11 games. The other 4 guys all logged 17 starts with Ekwonu and Moton playing 100% of the offensive snaps. Offensive lines are tough to evaluate unless you’re watching every play 5 times and grading every guy, and Reddit doesn’t pay enough for me to do that. As a unit, they were around the middle of the pack in several of the rushing metrics in the Football Outsiders database. Individually, Ekwonu had some struggles and was basically a turnstile against Myles Garrett in week 1, but he had a really solid stretch from weeks 4 through 14 especially as a pass blocker. Moton had his worst year as a pro as a run blocker and Carolina averaged almost a full yard less running off the right edge than any other direction. But Moton finished #9 in pass blocking among tackles according to PFF. Corbett was the best out of the interior guys, and finished #14 among guards in pass blocking. Run blocking was an issue for all 5 guys, but it’s safe to say that we saw a lot of heavy boxes given our weaknesses in the passing game. It’s tough to win a run block when the defense knows you’re going to run it. All in all, you could do a lot worse (and we have) than this group. Bozeman is the lone free agent, and as long as the asking price isn’t too high, they should try to get him back.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Grade: C-
Players: Brian Burns, Yetur Gross-Matos, Derrick Brown, Matt Ioannidis, Marquis Haynes, Henry Anderson, Amare Barno, Bravvion Roy, Marquan McCall
The defensive line as a unit was pretty unremarkable in 2022. They were #13 in yards per rush allowed, but were the 2nd worst team in the league at allowing opponents to convert 3rd or 4th and short plays according to Football Outsiders Power Success rate. They were only 21st in pressure rate, and had to be 9th in blitz percentage to even generate the pressure they did. Burns led the team with 12.5 sacks, but no other starting defensive lineman had more than 2.5. Gross-Matos continued to look like Kony Ealy version 1.01 and generated pressure on only 5.6% of his pass rush snaps. Haynes had 5 sacks on limited snaps, but was an absolute liability as a run defender. Anderson was an ok depth piece, but didn’t provide any evidence he’s worth keeping around. Barno showed a little promise with 2 sacks, but his sample size of snaps was too low to really gauge his ability. Brown and Ioannidis were actually a pretty solid tandem in the middle. Brown ranked #7 in PFF overall grade among DTs, and Ioannidis was #44. Roy and McCall were the only other DTs to see significant snaps, but neither were particularly impressive. The big question facing this group will be the apparent transition to a 3-4 scheme next year. Burns ranked #102 among edge players as a run defender last year, so getting him off the line with more room to use his speed should help. Haynes also seems better suited to be a pass-rushing OLB than a DE. I like the idea of seeing what Brown can do as a 3-4 DE more than trying to force him into a true NT role, but it will definitely be an adjustment. I’m not sure where the rest of the group fits in, but luckily none of these guys are irreplaceable. I expect to see a lot of turnover with this group during the offseason.
LINEBACKERS
Grade: B-
Players: Shaq Thompson, Frankie Luvu, Corey Littleton, Damien Wilson, Brandon Smith
Luvu was a legitimate bright spot for this team. He started 4 games last season, showing enough promise to earn a full-time starting role this season and delivered by being the 3rd best run defending LB according to PFF and also contributed 7 sacks. Thompson was just ahead of him as the 2nd best run defender, but was less effective as a pass rusher. Littleton was a solid 3rd option, but with Jeremy Chinn on the field, Carolina spent most of the time in a nickel set where Chinn could slide down as a 3rd LB if needed. Wilson and Smith were depth pieces that saw most of their snaps on special teams. The reason for the B- was the poor pass coverage from this group. Thompson was #51 and Luvu was #61 among LBs, and the eye test definitely backed up these numbers. Opponents seemed to routinely be able to find whatever they needed on short passes in the middle of the field. Thompson is going to have the 3rd highest cap number on the roster this upcoming season, and they could save $13M by releasing him. He’s been a solid player for his entire career and is still a very good run defender. The transition to a 3-4 may save him for this year for either of 2 reasons. I think he and Luvu would be a very good tandem in the middle, but there’s also the chance that the staff decides to utilize Luvu’s pass-rushing prowess by moving him outside even though he’s a bit undersized for that position which would leave Thompson as the only noteworthy ILB on the roster. Still, don’t be surprised if Thompson is a cap casualty with the team currently sitting almost $8M over the limit.
SECONDARY
Grade: C-
Players: Jaycee Horn, CJ Henderson, Donte Jackson, Xavier Woods, Myles Hartsfield, Jeremy Chinn, Keith Taylor, Juston Burris, Sam Franklin, Sean Chandler
The numbers might suggest a lower grade for this group. They gave up the 11th most pass yards per game, the 13th most passing TDs, were 15th in most yards per attempt, allowed the 9th highest opponent passer rating and had the 5th lowest interception rate. All that would likely come out to a D, but I gave them a bump because they weren’t getting much help from the rest of the defense. After losing basically his entire rookie year to a foot injury, it was good to see Horn play well with seemingly no lingering effects. But playing “well” is not what we expect from the #8 overall pick, so here’s hoping that he continues to improve next year. Jackson ended the season on IR with a torn Achilles and wasn’t playing that well before he got hurt. He’s too expensive to cut this offseason, but this coming year will essentially be a contract year for him. He’s never been particularly great at coverage and has relied on his ability to make up ground, so we will have to see if he still has that ability after the injury. Henderson should have been buried underneath the stadium after the Tampa Bay game since it looked like he was already dead for most of the day anyway. It would be tough for a cash-strapped team to eat another $3.5M, but this may be the one time it’s worth just not to have to be in a position where we’re relying on him again. Taylor didn’t fare much better, but I’ll take effort over talented apathy any day of the week. Chinn missed 5 games because of a hamstring injury and struggled for most of the season. His highest PFF grade was as a pass rusher which, if you’re keeping track at home, is not the best attribute for a safety. But I have faith that he’ll rebound and get back to his normal self. Woods was decent as the other primary starting safety and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep him around for a still relatively young secondary. A boost in the pass rush would do wonders for this or any secondary, so hopefully the new coaching staff has a few new wrinkles to help with that.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Grade: B
Players: Eddy Pineiro, Johnny Hekker, JJ Jansen, Shi Smith, Raheem Blackshear, Chuba Hubbard, Andre Roberts (IR)
Another year, another new kicker. Zane Gonzalez came into 2022 off a career best 20/22 season in 12 games, and many thought Carolina had finally found a consistent kicker again after floundering for over a year following the release of Graham Gano. But Gonzalez got hurt during preseason warm ups (the most embarrassing time to get injured), and Carolina had to turn to Pineiro. He responded by being the most accurate kicker in the NFL this season, only missing twice on 35 attempts. But as we all remember, one of those felt like about 5 misses. I’ll give him a pass on the long XP, but letting that snowball into missing the equivalent of a regular XP wasn’t great. Both him and Gonzalez will likely be on the camp roster, so we’ll see who wins the job. Hekker was his usual self, averaging 48.5 yards per punt and downing almost half of them inside the 20 with only 6 touchbacks. I don’t remember a bad snap from Jansen which is normal for him. The coverage units were in the middle of the pack ranking #16 and #14 in lowest kick and punt return average allowed respectively. The return game was equally middling, ranking #10 and #28 in kick and punt return average. I know that returns are so fluky these days that it’s hard to really judge them, but I don’t think anybody would say we had a guy who could be considered a threat at the return position. Smith and Blackshear were the primary punt and kick returner, but outside of Blackshear’s 66 yard return in the blowout against Cincy, there wasn’t much to talk about. As for the rest of the ST unit, for years it just seems like Carolina couldn’t run a special teams play without committing a penalty, but this is the first year I’ve actually looked up the number, and yes, Carolina led the league in accepted special teams penalties and yardage. (For reference they had the 8th most in 2021 and 2020.) That’s the reason for the B. We have to stop spotting teams an extra 5-15 yards at the end of otherwise successful special teams plays. And while returns are admittedly more of a dice roll these days, it would be nice to have a guy that at least slightly concerns the opponent.
##New Coach Moves:
Former Colts Head Coach and Superbowl winning OC for the 2017 Eagles Frank Reich was hired as the newest Panthers Head Coach on January 26th. He almost immediately made the decision of retaining OL coach James Campen (absolute God of the trenches) and Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor.
If it wasn’t obvious already, myself and most Panthers fans have quickly grown to adore OL coach James Campen for the work he has done to an otherwise just dreadful unit. We were able to snag some key free agents, most notably RG Austin Corbett and C Bradley Bozeman. But the work Campen has done with rookie LT Ickey Ikwonu and young 3rd round pick Brady Christensen at LG has been incredible. Carolina was, by most metrics, a top 10 OL this year after being ranked 31st in the league just a year ago. Keeping Campen in house was basically the first thing Panthers fans were worried about when the announcement of Reich being Head Coach was made.
Chris Tabor has also helped the Special Teams of the Panthers as under previous Coordinator Chase Blackburn, was a constantly struggling unit. Punter Johnny Hekker being signed, along with Eddie Piniero and Pro Bowl returner Andre Roberts (who was replaced by Shi Smith due to injury) helped that phase of the game as well. The unit improved compared to previous seasons so hopefully that trend continues.
For the other spots on the staff, I'm gonna focus on the key hires.
For DC Carolina has hired former Broncos DC Ejiro Evero. Evero led a genuinely impressive defense in Denver that I think loosely gets overlooked because of the Hackett/Russ debacle and how awful watching that offense was and really brought the best out of the players there - young and old. Dom Capers - the mentor for Evero - was also brought in for a consulting job.
As for the offensive side of the ball, Reich has brought in Thomas Brown as OC, the former assistant head coach and TE coach of the LA Rams. To be honest I don’t really know much about him, but there’s a good mix of youth and some savvy vets in this staff. We’ve also since snagged Josh McCown as QB coach - which should be cool considering how long he was in the league presumably for having such a big brain for football - and Duce Staley as RB coach Duce is a great pickup as he seems to really connect with players and get them to play hard. He’s also a complete opposite of how Reich seems to be as a coach so it’s a nice balance to have. Jim Caldwell was also added as a consultant for the offense.
All in all these are some pretty great names and hires and it’s a bit exciting to see an *ACTUAL* NFL coaching staff back in charge of this franchise.
##Hopeful 2023 Off-season moves:
Quarterback please for the love of God. Carolina possess the 9th pick in this upcoming draft and should take a QB there or trade up to ensure they get their guy. At this point I think I can safely speak for most Panthers fans in saying “I don’t care what the cost is just get a franchise QB here”.
The Panthers are strapped for cash a little heading into the offseason, currently 8m over the cap. With restructures and some cuts we can wiggle some space out for our rookie class, top re-signing targets and maybe a depth player or two in free agency.
The top priority for me is re-signing C Bradley Bozeman. Rhule and co signed the former Raven to a 1 year/ $2.8m deal last offseason and when Bozeman played he was great. The centerpiece to the new and improved Panthers’ OL is only 28 so it would be insane to let *another* great cheap FA pick-up walk out the door after their one year deal (God I miss Hasaan Reddick).
Defensive Tackle Matt Ioannidis was also signed on a 1 year/$5.8m deal last off season and also was a solid-good rotational piece in what was otherwise a lackluster front 7. Derrick Brown grew a lot this season with Ioannidis next to him and that alone is worth keeping him in the building for.
Running Back D’onta Foreman was a bruiser and a catalyst for the offensive renaissance in the back half of the season, he would be another good hand to keep in the building.
The rest of Carolina’s expiring contracts are all players who have played less than 40% of snaps this year, a lot of depth guys/spot starters/special teamers. I’m sure a few of these guys will come back on cheap deals to fill out the roster but none feel too important to really dive in to.
As for potential Free Agents:
Safety Jessie Bates III, WR Allen Lazard and DT Daron Payne would all be Godsends but unfortunately Carolina doesn’t really have the wiggle room for splash signings this offseason. With some cuts and restructures we can get about 30m under the cap, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the team mostly focuses on cheaper depth/spot start guys.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if Evero wants some of his former players in the building, if for nothing else, to help with communication/install. So watch for the Panthers to target veteran safety Kareem Jackson should he still have interest in playing, Linebacker Alex Singleton or a combo of DTs DeShawn Williams and Dre’Mont Jones - all of whom are currently slated to be Free Agents.
##In Review:
All in all 2022 was mostly a mess with a few bright spots and things to look forward to. We're still a bit away from seriously competing, but with a competent coaching staff in place, a QB and a few more contributors Carolina could easily walk away with the NFC South title in 2023.
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