Carolina Panthers: Full Breakdown and Depth-Chart Analysis at Offensive Tackle

If the Carolina Panthers had one major weakness last season, it was at offensive tackle.  The pairing of Byron Bell and Nate Chandler was the worst set in the league last season and responsible for a combined 83 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.  They also didn’t open huge holes for the running game either, with Jonathan Stewart notably getting more traction when Mike Remmers replaced Chandler.

The Panthers offensive line was bound to be better in 2015 simply by the law of averages, but they’ve made several intriguing moves to bolster the unit, bringing in free agents and draft picks to create competition at both tackle spots.  Couple that with Bell not being re-signed, and the Panthers will have a new set of offensive tackles moving forward.  This is almost assuredly going to be a good thing, and improvement will naturally follow.

The Panthers didn’t bring in any absolute, no-doubt studs at the position.  Nor did they use an early draft pick to boost their roster quality.  They went with a more conservative approach to the position this offseason.

The optimist’s version of events is that the Panthers found a gem from the practice squad last season, brought in talented free agents who simply need a change of scenery to blossom and found a steal on the third day of the draft.

The pessimist’s version of events is that the Panthers have to cobble together a starting set of tackles with practice squad-quality players, free agents who failed in their last couple of spots and Day 3 talent in the draft.

The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between those two extremes.  Let’s take a closer look at the depth chart and the players involved to see what the Panthers can reasonably expect in 2015.

Michael Oher

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

2014 (Tennessee): 11 games started (all at right tackle); -20.2 Pro Football Focus grade
2013 (Baltimore): 16 games started (all at right tackle); -17.1 Pro Football Focus grade
2012 (Baltimore): 16 games started (14 at left tackle, 2 at right tackle); -10.2 Pro Football Focus grade

As you can see from the recent PFF grades, it’s been a rough few years for the former-first round pick.  Oher also hasn’t played left tackle in two seasons, so being penciled in at left tackle is, to put it mildly, a bit of an area of concern for the offensive line.

The Titans brought him in last year on a four-year, $20 million deal but cut him after just one poor season.  Carolina is probably Oher’s last chance to turn his NFL career around, and general manager Dave Gettleman is putting a lot of faith in the 29-year-old.

It’s not that Oher lacks talent, though.  Playing both left and right tackles as a rookie, he performed well, especially in the run-blocking department.  He’s always allowed more than his fair share of quarterback hurries, but he was adequate there and good enough as a run-blocker that he finished second in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting, behind Percy Harvin.  That’s impressive for an offensive tackle.

Since then, though, Oher has had nothing but struggles.  Some of it can be blamed on an injured toe which forced him out of last season, but not all of it.  The reason for optimism might be that Oher is reuniting with his rookie offensive line coach.  John Matsko coached Oher for his great rookie season and his more solid, if unimpressive, second and third years.   If Matsko can get Oher back to that level of play, then the Panthers will have a massive improvement over Byron Bell on their hands.

It’s a gamble, certainly.  If Oher can return to his rookie form, he might be in consideration for the Comeback Player of the Year award.  I doubt he’ll get all the way back there, but perhaps Matsko can turn the clock back a couple of years to a point when Oher was just below average and not an active liability.  That would be a significant step forward for the Panthers.

Mike Remmers

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

2014: 5 games started (all at right tackle), +1.9 Pro Football Focus grade
2013 (San Diego): 1 game (left tackle), 0.0 Pro Football Focus grade
2012 (Tampa Bay): Practice squad

Remmers has bounced from team to team in his three-year NFL career.  In 2013 alone, he was on three different rosters, starting on Tampa Bay’s practice squad, serving as emergency depth for San Diego and then being cut and signed by Minnesota to finish out the year.

Add in his rookie team—Denver—and the Rams, who had him on the practice squad before Carolina signed him last year, and Remmers has become quite the well-travelled player in a short time.

Carolina gave Remmers his first chance at actual regular action when Nate Chandler went down with a leg injury, and frankly, he was impressive.  Pro Football Focus charted him as allowing zero sacks in the seven games he started, including the playoffs. 

He struggled against the ferocious Seattle Seahawks defense in the playoffs but still managed to keep Cam Newton upright.  If you disregard that game, Remmers allowed just six hurries and one hit on Newton and Derek Anderson.  That’s not bad for a former college walk-on and practice squad-fodder player.

The question is whether or not Remmers can keep that level of performance up over a full year.  PFF graded him negatively in three of the last four games he started, and there was a definite downward trend.   You do have to wonder if he simply played a run of good games, and his “true” talent is more of the practice-squad or reserve-level player that five other teams thought he was.

I’m not fully convinced that’s the case.  It might be a coincidence that the Panthers’ running game took off when Remmers entered the lineup, going from 3.68 yards per rushing attempt to 5.06.  It might be a coincidence that he handled the likes of Brian Robison, Junior Galette, Jacquies Smith, Paul Kruger, Kroy Biermann, Frostee Rucker and Michael Bennett without giving up a single sack.  It might be a coincidence that with Remmers in the lineup, the team went 5-2 as opposed to 3-7-1.

At a certain point, however, you have to acknowledge that, without even being with the team in training camp, Remmers produced better than any other offensive tackle the Panthers had last season.  He’s earned the right to at least enter training camp as the starting right tackle.  The Panthers might have legitimately found a diamond in the rough here—or, at least, a useful rotational tackle for the future.

Jonathan Martin

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

2014 (San Francisco): 15 games, 9 as a starter (all at right tackle), -11.9 Pro Football Focus grade
2013 (Miami): 7 games started (6 at left tackle, 1 at right tackle), -9.3 Pro Football Focus grade
2012 (Miami): 16 games started (5 at left tackle, 11 at right tackle), -26.0 Pro Football Focus grade

Jonathan Martin will likely be most remembered for being the victim in the Richie Incognito bullying scandal in Miami rather than for his play at offensive tackle.  The former second-round pick has never looked comfortable starting in the NFL.

His years in Miami can be at least somewhat excused thanks to the toxic culture as talked about in the original Wells Report, where Martin was treated in ways that were "offensive and unacceptable in any environment, including the world professional football players inhabit."  That’s not exactly the environment a young player is going to thrive in.

Martin's former college coach, Jim Harbaugh, brought him to San Francisco, but he missed a significant chunk of the offseason dealing with mononucleosis and then was forced to become a semi-regular starter thanks to Anthony Davis’ injury issues.  He definitely did not succeed in that role, surrendering a total of 28 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, and generally looking out of place.  With Harbaugh out in San Francisco, the powers that be showed no desire to keep him around for another attempt.

Maybe an offseason free of harassment and illnesses, plus the luxury to actually learn on the bench rather than being forced into a starting role, can allow the skills that made Martin a second-round pick in 2012 to come to the forefront.  At this point, however, he has never displayed much potential on the field, and you have to wonder if he’s just a bust.  He’ll compete for the starting left tackle role, but the Panthers are probably better off gambling with Oher than with Martin.

Nate Chandler

MIKE MCCARN/Associated Press

2014: 11 games started (all at right tackle), -16.1 Pro Football Focus grade
2013: 16 games , 8 as a starter (8 starts and 9 games as right guard, 3 games at left tackle, 3 games at right tackle), -8.9 Pro Football Focus grade     
2012: 10 games (all at defensive tackle), -5.1 Pro Football Focus grade

You have to remember that Nate Chandler is still sort of settling in as an offensive lineman.  He was an offensive lineman his rookie year in college, played tight end as a sophomore and then played on the defensive line for his last two seasons and his rookie year in the NFL.  He switched back to the offensive line in 2013 and showed some promise as the year went along at right guard.

Then last year happened, and Chandler struggled—not as badly as Bell did on the left side, but he struggled regardless.  He was destroyed in the pass rush and was suboptimal in the run game as well.  He did end the season with an injury, but you can’t blame all of his lack of production there.

He’s something of a forgotten man in the rotation at the moment, in part because he had to sit out minicamp thanks to the ongoing recovery from his toe and knee surgeries.  However, it’s important to note that Chandler did have some success on the interior of the line in 2013.  He might still have some value as a backup lineman. 

You can make an argument that the converted defensive tackle was simply put into a situation he wasn’t prepared to handle last year and with more development could still be a decent reserve off the bench.  Chandler makes the 2015 roster, though hopefully he won’t be on the field as much as he was last season.

Daryl Williams

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

2014 (Oklahoma): 13 games started (all at right tackle)
2013 (Oklahoma): 13 games started (12 at right tackle, 1 at left tackle)
2012 (Oklahoma): 10 games started (all at right tackle)

I gave a detailed scouting report on Daryl Williams when he was drafted, calling him the most intriguing player Carolina selected.  The Panthers moved up to grab him in the fourth round, and while they perhaps gave up a bit too much to get him, he was a Day 2 talent who fell to Day 3.  He has a real chance to end the 2015 season as the starter at right tackle, though he should be behind Mike Remmers for now.

The three-time All-Big 12 Conference honoree hasn’t done anything yet in minicamp to wrest the starting snaps away from Remmers.  He’s been working with the second- and third-team, which is about what you’d expect from a Day 3 pick, but Black and Blue Review did report that he rotated in during OTAs.

Williams should be the starting right tackle of the future.  The question is when things fall into place for him.  He's likely to get at least one start during preseason, just as kind of an evaluation period.  Remmers most likely starts the season at right tackle, however, thanks to having a bit more experience.  It’s not like he is a grizzled veteran or anything, though, so this could be very much up in the air.

David Foucault

MIKE MCCARN/Associated Press

2014: 5 games, 1 as a starter (at both left and right tackle), -12.6 Pro Football Focus grade
2013 (Montreal): Starting left tackle
2012 (Montreal): Starting left tackle

David Foucault made the team last year as an undrafted free agent out of Canada.  He actually went fifth overall in the CFL draft to the Montreal Alouettes but figured he had a shot at an NFL roster—and with Carolina’s depleted offensive line last season, he was right.

Foucault even got to start one game when Blake Bell went down with an injury.  He struggled against Junior Galette, however, allowing two sacks, a quarterback hit and six more hurries on the day, according to Pro Football Focus.  It wasn’t a performance to remember.

Foucault is depth, pure and simple.  With the addition of Oher, Martin and Williams to the roster in 2015, he will be hard-pressed to make the final roster unless both Oher and Martin live down to the very worst of their reputations.

Martin Wallace

Uncredited/Associated Press

2014: Practice squad
2013 (Cleveland): 1 game played
2012 (Temple): 11 games started (all at right tackle)

Wallace has been getting a few looks as the backup left tackle in OTAs, according to Black and Blue Review, but that’s mostly because of offseason depth requirements.  Carolina picked him up halfway through last season and put him on the practice squad, where he didn’t particularly make an impact.

He has one NFL game experience in Cleveland, though he only played on special teams and not on offense.  At Temple, Wallace was a two-year starter at right tackle and a second-team All-Big East selection, but he’s marginal at the NFL level. 

While it’s possible he makes his way back to the practice squad, it’s probably more likely he doesn’t make the cut.  The Panthers have added too many players at the tackle position for Wallace to have much of a shot.

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