The 5 Biggest Issues Facing the Carolina Panthers with OTAs Wrapped

With the Carolina Panthers’ OTAs wrapping up on Thursday, we've had our first chance to see what the 2015 squad will actually look like.

However, the OTAs only give us a limited perspective. It’s true that the “voluntary” practices still see nearly the entire roster show up, with some exceptions, including first-round pick Shaq Thompson, who had to finish his college course work before technically being allowed to join the club.

However, since no live contact is permitted, there’s only so much you can learn. It’s easy, especially for smaller, speedier players, to stand out in 11-on-11 drills when they don’t have to worry about being clobbered over the middle.

We’ll learn more about the state of the Panthers when their mandatory camp begins on June 16, but we can at least check in on some of the more major stories of the offseason. What have we learned and what is there still to learn about some of the biggest questions facing the Panthers this offseason? Let’s take a quick look at five of the more pressing questions.

Will Cam Newton Take the Next Step?

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

Cam Newton is the latest $100 million NFL quarterback. That puts him among the top 10 quarterbacks in the league in terms of total contract value, and it's a far cry from the bargain the Panthers have enjoyed at the quarterback position since he came into the league.

Newton will now take up about 12 percent of Carolina’s salary cap over the next six seasons, locking him in as the franchise guy for the foreseeable future.

Signing Newton to a long-term deal like this was absolutely the right thing to do, even if there’s a sense of sticker-shock from the contract details. While Newton’s been frustratingly inconsistent over the course of his NFL career, he’s always been among the top half of NFL starters and arguably entered the top 10 last season.

His play continued to improve in 2014 despite having a weaker offensive supporting cast than most of his peers. When you’re playing in a league where Jay Cutler gets $126 million, I don’t think anyone can complain about giving Newton nine figures.

With a larger contract, of course, comes larger responsibility. When you’re taking up more than a 10th of the salary cap, it’s no longer acceptable to be a good player, you have to become a great one. Newton has that potential, certainly, but there are areas of his game he needs to continue to improve on.

While no one, except possibly Russell Wilson, is better with their legs at quarterback than Newton, his arm still needs some work. According to Football Outsiders, Newton was the fifth-least accurate quarterback in 2014, including finishing with the worst rate of overthrown passes, at 17 percent. It’s not just the injuries Newton suffered last year, either—he overthrew 15 percent of his passes in 2013.

That needs to change if Newton is going to justify his new contract. I believe that he can improve—and it’s certainly something more concrete than the bizarre criticism that he "plays like someone who constantly has friends in his ear telling him that he’s the greatest”, like Sports Illustrated said earlier this week—but it’s the one thing holding Newton back from being one of the top QBs in the game.

Who Starts at Right Tackle?

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

The right tackle battle is in full swing right now, with Mike Remmers by no means guaranteed a spot over last year’s starter Nate Chandler, this year’s fourth-round pick Daryl Williams or free-agent acquisition Jonathan Martin. Considering the state of the tackle play last year, getting this decision right needs to be one of the Panthers' top priorities if they are going to repeat as NFC South champions this year.

Remmers has in fact been getting the starting snaps at right tackle through OTAs, with Williams serving as his primary competition on the second string, according to the Panthers website. Martin, it seems, will be backing up Michael Oher at left tackle, while Chandler continues to rehab from his torn lateral meniscus.

It is interesting to note, however, that none of these positions are set in stone. Remmers slid inside to play center on Monday, according to the Charlotte Observer. Obviously, the center spot is Ryan Kalil’s for sure, but it’s intriguing that the Panthers are still testing out Remmers' versatility. If he was the surefire right tackle starter, it's unlikely we’d see him moving around much.

It’s only fair that Remmers gets the initial starting snaps, as he ended last season on a high note, but it’s worth mentioning that his performance over the last five games of 2014 was out of character for his career production.

Perhaps he simply never had the opportunity to show what he could do, or perhaps he had a run of good luck. The Panthers’ quest to figure out which is actually the case is arguably their most pressing positional decision as we approach the 2015 season.

Who Starts at Wide Receiver

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

The only receiver spot that is absolutely locked down at this point belongs to Kelvin Benjamin. He had a hamstring injury that slowed him down this offseason, but he was able to join the team and work his way back into action, which is a positive. Benjamin and Greg Olsen accounted for more than 57 percent of Carolina’s receiving yards in 2014, so it’s good that Benjamin is getting back on the field.

Benjamin’s absence had a silver lining, however, as it meant more reps for rookie Devin Funchess. Funchess was playing all three receiver positions, and according to ESPN’s David Newton, he looked natural at each.

If Funchess can play a significant role from Day 1, it would be a boon for the team. He still has a lot to do in terms of polishing his routes and developing chemistry with Newton, but the extra reps he was afforded in Benjamin’s absence can only help him.

Behind those two is a mishmash of veterans looking for one more chance and young players fighting for a spot. Jerricho Cotchery is back from last year, and Ted Ginn returns from a one-year stretch in Arizona.

I’d say Ginn has a better shot of earning a spot than Cotchery just because his speed adds a new dimension to the roster, but considering the lack of experience of Benjamin and Funchess, a veteran's presence would be valuable.

Then you have young players like Corey Brown and Stephen Hill fighting for larger roles. They have more upside at this point, but you need to have some experience at the position.

Cotchery has seen fewer snaps with the first team than he did last season, according to Carolina Huddle. It’s been Funchess, Brown, Ginn and Brenton Bersin spending most of the time working with Newton.  You’d have to consider those four, plus Benjamin, the leaders in the clubhouse to get spots on the 53-man roster, but this competition is far from over.

How Quickly Will Shaq Thompson Adapt?

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

Because of NFL rules, Shaq Thompson didn’t get much work at OTAs. He missed the first eight OTA practices as he had to finish his exams at the University of Washington. That’s a lot of practice time for the first-round pick down the drain.

He finally showed up on Wednesday, though, and since then, he has been fighting to catch up. He has been working mostly with the second team at this point, according to the Panthers’ home page, but he's been getting some help from Luke Kuechly.

The second-team stint shouldn’t last too long. The plan appears to be to have Thompson on the field with Kuechly and Thomas Davis by the time the season begins, but it’s not quite that simple.

Thompson’s lack of size makes him a better fit on the weak side of the defense, but that’s the position Davis has been holding down. Davis is certainly capable of playing on the other side, and he often did toward the end of last season because of injuries to Chase Blackburn and A.J. Klein. That shouldn’t be a major problem.

What is a major problem is the learning curve that comes with Thompson moving to full-time linebacker from the linebacker-safety hybrid he played in college. It’s an entirely doable shift—Davis did the same thing when he entered the NFL—but missing OTAs will slightly slow the transition. It’s something to watch as the offseason goes on.

Who Spells Jonathan Stewart?

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

Cameron Artis-Payne

With DeAngelo Williams gone, the Panthers’ starting running back job is squarely in the hands of Jonathan Stewart. If Stewart can stay healthy—which is always a major if with Stewart—and can show even 80 percent of the run he had to finish the 2014 season, that should work out nicely for the 2015 squad.

Stewart is not equipped to be the sole workhorse back, however, so the Panthers need to figure out who will get the remaining carries while Stewart rests.

At the moment, Fozzy Whittaker is getting the most second-team snaps for the Panthers, which makes sense. Whittaker signed a new contract this offseason and had actually supplanted an active Williams as the backup running back during the postseason.

He’s far from locked in at the spot, however. Fifth-round rookie Cameron Artis-Payne has been drawing rave reviews and actually received some first-team snaps in the red zone at OTAs, according to Black and Blue Review.

You also have Darrin Reaves and ex-Jaguar Jordan Todman, who ascended from the practice squad to the starting roster last year, ending up with the second-most running back snaps last season, according to Pro Football Focus.

It’s still a wide-open competition that will need to be settled in minicamp.

Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the Carolina Panthers. Follow him @BryKno on twitter.