5 Biggest Needs the Carolina Panthers Have Yet to Address This Offseason
The 7-8-1 record of the Carolina Panthers last season doesn’t really reflect their true talent level. By the end of last season—the time that matters—they had begun to pull something respectable together. That’s why they were able to win their four final regular-season games and beat the Arizona Cardinals in the playoffs, even if they only slipped in by the skin of their teeth.
“Playing better” doesn’t mean that the Panthers were secretly a 10-6 Super Bowl contender waiting to happen, however. They needed to address a lot of issues this offseason. For example, their offensive line had significant difficulties keeping Cam Newton upright, as they allowed 42 sacks over the course of the season. The wide receiving corps was, at best, inexperienced. The defensive backfield struggled defending the pass, which is a serious issue in a division with Drew Brees and Matt Ryan.
It’s a talented team, but one that still has holes.
The Panthers haven’t been massively active in free agency this offseason, but they also haven’t had any massive losses. Yes, Greg Hardy is out of town, but the Panthers played without him for essentially all of last season, so you can’t really count that as a loss compared to last year’s team. As for additions, they haven’t made any huge deals, but the addition of a good punt returner in Ted Ginn Jr. and an experienced offensive tackle in Michael Oher lead the way.
Because they’ve been so inactive, they still have a lot of holes to fill. Because of their salary-cap space remaining and the general lower quality of players remaining, this will likely have to happen via the draft. Sitting back with the 25th overall pick, the Panthers will pay the price for their improbable playoff run, but that’s just something they’ll have to overcome.
These ranks are ordered from least to most. In other words, the fifth-place need could likely wait until the third round or so, at the earliest, while the team should consider the top couple of needs with the 25th overall pick. Before we get to those needs, however, let’s take a quick look at some honorable mentions that didn’t quite make the list.
Honorable Mentions
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Interior Offensive Linemen
Trai Turner had an encouraging rookie season at right guard, and Andrew Norwell closed the season out strongly at left guard after some early struggles. Behind them, however, there are issues. Amini Silatolu started the season at left guard and mostly floundered, and there’s a lack of any proven depth behind them. Some security behind them wouldn’t go amiss.
A Replacement for Greg Hardy
The Panthers have the making of a great defensive line, starting, from left to right, Charles Johnson, Kawann Short and Star Lotulelei. Hopefully, Kony Ealy will live up to his second-round draft status and take over that other defensive end spot, but he was fairly awful last season. The Panthers can afford to not use a high draft pick on the position considering what they did last year, but Ealy’s development has to be concerning.
Depth in the Secondary
Bene Benwikere looks like a steal in the fifth round last season, as long as he can continue the form he ended 2014 with, and Josh Norman is average at the other starting corner spot. Behind them, however, the Panthers are filled with question marks. Colin Jones and Melvin White are the top options for nickel cornerback at the moment, and frankly, both need to be upgraded. The Panthers just offered a contract to Alan Ball, according to Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post, so that might be enough to fill the need.
Punter
You’d have to be pretty set at all other positions for punter to be your biggest team need, and it can usually be fixed with an undrafted free agent or a competition in training camp. Brad Nortman has been a solid punter for a couple of seasons, but he finished dead last in 2014 in net punting average at just 36.5 yards per punt. Some competition at the position wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
5. Weak-Side Linebacker
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Much like on the defensive line, the Panthers are one player away from having a perfect linebacking corps. The duo of Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly is the top linebacking pair in the league, now undisputedly taking over that title from the San Francisco 49ers’ set of Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman. With them roaming around in the middle of the defense, opposing offenses have a hard time getting anything done.
However, they are paired with A.J. Klein. Now, he is not the worst player in the world by any stretch of the imagination. He’s solid enough in run defense and, for a fifth-round pick, has turned out into a decent player. He’s miles away from the other linebackers, however, and doesn’t have the speed or flexibility to develop into much more than he already is.
If the Panthers are stuck starting Klein in 2015, that’s not the worst possible outcome. He wouldn’t be the weakest link on the defense, but it’s a position where a talented young player could come in and provide an immediate improvement. Even if Klein holds on to the job, it has to be remembered that Davis is turning 32 on the other side and is beginning the downside of his career. Depth at the position, if nothing else, could be an option starting late on Day 2 or early on Day 3 of the draft.
4. Strong Safety
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The Panthers have actually made moves to shore up their secondary, adding ex-Chiefs safety Kurt Coleman. Coleman isn’t really a starting-caliber player, however. He started for two years for Andy Reid in Philadelphia, but he’s more comfortable in sub-packages and on special teams. That signing alone isn’t enough of an upgrade over Roman Harper.
He was overrated as a strong safety when he made back-to-back Pro Bowls in 2009 and 2010. Since then, he’s gotten older, slower and generally less successful. He's no longer proficient in pass coverage at all, though he can still hit players in the run game from time to time. He’d be an average backup, but the 32-year-old shouldn’t be an NFL starter anymore.
Coleman should at least compete for the job, but adding a higher draft choice would go a long way to feeling more confident at the position. Harper as a mentor figure to Virginia’s Anthony Harris or Samford’s Jaquiski Tartt, for example, would provide a solid replacement at the position. In today’s NFL, you need a safety who can deliver blows in the box and cover deep, and Harper just isn’t that player anymore.
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3. A Complementary Running Back
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Jonathan Stewart has had an up-and-down career, but 2014 was definitely an up year. He averaged 4.6 yards per carry while taking the lion’s share of the carries, and he was solid enough in the pass game and pass protection as well. It’s not hyperbole to call this his best season ever, even if he didn’t top 1,000 yards.
Stewart really hit his stride during the Panthers’ winning streak to close out the season. If he could do that every single week, he’d be among the top five or 10 running backs in the league.
Of course, Stewart has not shown the ability to produce like that on a week-in, week-out basis. Even if he had, running back would still be a need, as DeAngelo Williams has gone to Pittsburgh. That would leave Fozzy Whittaker or Darrin Reaves as the next back off the bench, and neither of them is particularly thrilling.
The Panthers have scheduled a predraft meeting with Georgia running back Todd Gurley, according to ESPN.com’s Vaughn McClure. Gurley, assuming he recovers from his knee injury, would be an exciting addition to Carolina, but I’m not sure the Panthers could justify using a first-round pick on a running back, considering their other needs.
Fortunately, then, this is one of the deepest running back classes in recent memory. I’m a big fan of Nebraska’s Ameer Abdullah, though he may not fall all the way to the Panthers’ second-round pick. Northern Iowa’s David Johnson put up a spectacular combine, as did Michigan State’s Jeremy Langford. There should be plenty of talented players to look for in the second or third rounds to add to the backfield.
2. A Secondary Wideout
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Kelvin Benjamin flashed enough in his rookie season for the Panthers to consider him a top receiver for the future. He improved as the season went along, which is precisely what you want to see out of a first-round pick. No, he wasn’t Odell Beckham Jr., but he’s growing and getting over some early rookie inconsistencies.
At the very least, he’s an average NFL player at the moment with the potential to get better. That’s not bad at all.
Behind him, however, the roster is rockier. Jerricho Cotchery has been kind of a bust, and at age 33, he’s no better than a third, and preferably fourth, receiver. Philly Brown performed surprisingly well for an undrafted free agent, but he’s not a long-term answer either. The Panthers really need a deep threat.
Is that Ted Ginn Jr., whom they brought back on a two-year contract? No. He only had 190 yards last year and is really just a returner who happens to occasionally line up on offense. While I suppose he takes over as Carolina’s top deep threat at the moment, that’s not a good thing.
Like running back, however, the wide receiver position is fairly loaded this year, at least in the first two rounds of the draft. It would be hard to argue that the Panthers should use back-to-back first-round picks on receivers, but there’s talent there. Sammie Coates out of Auburn might be the best pure deep threat available in the draft, and imagining a passing game with him and Benjamin is tempting.
More likely would be the use of a second-round pick on someone like Ohio State’s Devin Smith, Kansas State’s Tyler Lockett or Miami’s Phillip Dorsett. Any of them would add an additional dimension to Carolina’s offense and give Cam Newton another weapon to work with.
1. Left Tackle
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The signing of Michael Oher improves the offensive line, but the subject of The Blind Side isn’t a great option on the actual blind side at left tackle. He’s an improvement over Nate Chandler for sure, but he’s looked worse and worse every season.
At this point in his career, I’d trust him far more on the right side of the line than the left. He was Pro Football Focus’ 75th-rated tackle in 2014, which is actually worse than Chandler’s grade in 2014, but better than actual 2014 left tackle Byron Bell, who was just terrible.
The fact that a below-average player like Oher actually counts as an improvement on the line is a problem, not a solution. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the Panthers do not use their first-round pick on the top offensive tackle still available; anything else is a luxury pick compared to the issues they’ve had in protection.
At the back half of the first round, that’s probably Stanford’s Andrus Peat or Miami’s Ereck Flowers. Either could come in directly at left tackle or spend a year on the right adjusting to the NFL level before moving over to the blind side for the long term. If the Panthers can’t keep Newton upright, it doesn’t matter how many receivers or running backs they add.
It has to start with protection on the line.
Oher is best if he’s just a stopgap solution for the long-term tackle of the future. He’s not a player you build around; he’s an emergency patch to stop what was a leaky hole. Oher will do, for now, while the team develops a player to take over. That has to happen in the first two rounds of the draft, though—any scenario which sees the Panthers come out of the 2015 draft without one of the top eight or so tackles has to be considered a failure.
Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He’s been covering the San Francisco 49ers and is now adding weekly Carolina Panthers coverage. Follow him @BryKno on twitter.
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