Panthers Expect Much From Rookie

The Carolina Panthers are not in the business of slowly bringing their rookies along, at least not in 2008.  Indeed, according to coach John Fox, first round running back Johnathan Stewart is expected to cover kick return duties immediately, and may also be able to snag the starting running back job from DeAngelo Williams.  The Panthers have been abysmal in terms of kick return yardage lately, but Stewart should help that immediately.  He could also offer a compliment to Williams in the backfield, but I think talk of him stealing the feature back spot are mostly rhetoric.

The Panthers need to be a driven team next season.  By telling Williams that he has to earn his starting spot, they can be sure the veteran back does not rest on his laurels.  However, I don’t believe the Panthers would legitimately ask Williams to play second fiddle to a rookie after he has been so patient in waiting for his time to come in Carolina.  Such a move could be absolutely caustic, and I don’t believe John Fox would ever do something quite that shortsighted.  However, I do expect Stewart to get some carries and do some damage.  He’s a great talent, but I don’t think he’ll be the feature back in year one.

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Will Williams Share the Load?

According to this article, Williams is fully willing to share the running back responsibilities with Johnathan Stewart. This has been a matter of some speculation since the draft, when the Panthers took a running back in the first round. Williams has of course played number 2 running back for the Panthers for years under DeShaun Foster. This year was to be his year to finally shine as a feature back.

Of course, now all of that may be in jeopardy, but I believe people are jumping the gun on this one. DeAngelo Williams is obviously the Panthers’ number 1 back, and they will bring Stewart along as they believe he is ready. So while Stewart will still certainly get a few carries to spell Williams, I don’t believe anyone should be worried about the veteran running back losing his spot or becoming unhappy just yet.

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Panthers Tops in Clayton’s Surprise Teams of 08

John Clayton believes the Carolina Panthers may surprise some people this year.  This is no shock to me, as I have been saying all offseason that the Carolina Panthers have made many of the shrewdest moves I’ve seen.  They have certainly positioned themselves well for a better 2008 than they had in 2007.  I believe that with the return of Jake Delhomme and the addition of some of the new parts brought in during the offseason, the Carolina Panthers will be just fine.  In fact, I wouldn’t say it was out of the question for the Panthers to win their division.

Clayton points out something I hadn’t realized and that many Panthers fans will love.  The Panthers strength of schedule next season is way down from last year, equating to nearly three more wins just by itself, according to the football professor.  This would be great news on its own, but when you couple this fact with everything the Panthers have done in the offseason to improve, you can start to see a lot of possible improvement in the Panthers’ record in the future.  Could the Panthers win 10 games?  Could they perhaps win more?  You’ll have to wait to find out.

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Panthers in the Power Rankings

The good people at ESPN.com just couldn’t help themselves.  They know that it’s only May, but they had to make their first set of Power Rankings available to the public. The Carolina Panthers received a higher mark than they finished with last year, jumping up five spots based on the changes made to their roster in the offseason.  The good people at ESPN.com have their reservations as to whether or not Jake Delhomme will ever get back to his original form after Tommy John surgery, but I think that’s a concern across the board for anyone who follows the Panthers.

This Panther team is not yet among the NFL’s elite according to the Power Rankings, but I believe they will see a steady climb as the season actually progresses.  It’s nearly impossible to know how everyone will look until you at least see everyone in camp, and even then you can’t be totally sure what you have.  It’s not until they get on the field and play a real regular season game that anyone will know what these Panthers are truly made of.  One thing is for sure - the Panthers are ready to prove that they are once again an elite NFC team.  They face a tough challenge ahead.

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Hackett Enjoys Being Lost in Shuffle

It’s been an interesting offseason for the Carolina Panthers.  Much of this was by design.  If anything the offseason shuffle was made totally necessary by the trainwreck that was the 2007 season in Carolina.  The Panthers had big issues across the board, and they needed to be addressed, or men were going to lose their jobs.  Now, it is certainly clear that more than one man’s livelihood hinges on the success of the Panthers in 2008.  They have added many pieces, both in free agency and through the draft, and many of these pick-ups have made a big splash with fans.

Oddly enough, one of the biggest names the Panthers picked up, D.J. Hackett has made few waves this offseason.  It isn’t that he’s playing poorly.  Quite the contrary, actually.  However, it seems that Hackett simply got lost in the shuffle, and according to this article, he likes that anonymity just fine.  Hackett was always expected to do a lot in Seattle, but he never seemed comfortable there.  If he can find his comfort zone in Carolina, then the acquisition no one is discussing could become one of the most important of the Panthers’ offseason.
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Matt Moore Confident

Earlier this week I had a story about how the Panthers have tons of confidence in Matt Moore.  I wrote that the Panthers have decided at this point not to seek out another back-up quarterback because they think Moore is their guy.  Frankly, I agreed.  After watching Vinny Testaverde be too old to be in the NFL and David Carr just not be a good enough QB to be in the NFL, it was refreshing to see Moore come in and handle his business like a professional.  I believe Moore makes a very solid back-up for the Carolina Panthers.

Apparently, Moore also believes he is ready.  With confidence that you love to see from your back-up quarterback, Matt Moore says that he will certainly be ready to pick up the slack if it turns out Jake Delhomme can’t go for any reason next year.  While Delhomme is still the starter, Moore seems to believe he is the QB of the future.  It remains to be seen if Moore can truly handle the workload of an NFL quarterback, but after the carousel fans had to endure last season, it’s at least nice to know that if something bad does happen, your team is in capable hands.

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Q&A with Jordan Gross

Jordan Gross has had quite the career.  He has moved all over the offensive line for the Panthers, and this year he will be playing left tackle on the revamped Panthers offensive line.  This type of career can make for a very interesting player, and so this Q&A session with Jordan Gross is actually very interesting.  In the Q&A, Gross discusses his career, all the positional moves he’s had to make, free agency, and many other aspects of the NFL.  He also talks about the future of the Panthers in 2008, which I felt was truly the most interesting portion of the interview.

Things have been quiet for the Panthers this week.  They seem to have shifted into post-draft mode pretty quickly, making a few moves here or there but mostly just diving into their camps and beginning their voluntary offseason workouts. So this is a good time for Panthers fans to read these kinds of interviews and write-ups helping them get a feel for their team as it stands heading into the 2008 season.  After last  year, there has been a lot of upheaval for the Panthers, and they will have a very different look and feel next season.

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Moore is Panthers Back-Up

The Carolina Panthers have not signed a veteran back-up quarterback.  Instead, the Panthers are trusting Matt Moore with back-up duties should Jake Delhomme fall at any point in the season.  The organization has decided that they have seen enough from Moore to make them believe he could take this team to the playoffs should they need him to.  Moore looked extremely crisp in the first mini-camp of the Panthers’ offseason, quieting at least some of the concerns of some of the members of the fan base and media as to whether or not the Panthers need another QB.

After seeing what Matt Moore did at the end of last season, I can at least say this - the Panthers retained the correct quarterback.  Moore certainly gives you a better chance of picking up slack for an injured Delhomme long-term than Vinny Testarverde or that other guy (whose name we shall never speak again).  While he may be somewhat unproven, that certainly doesn’t mean he can’t get the job done.  And why should the Panthers tie up cap space with a player they feel they may not even need?  I believe they’ve made the right call here.

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Peppers May Move to Right Tackle

In an interesting note from the Panthers mini-camp, ESPN.com’s Hashmarks is reporting that Julius Peppers did some work at right tackle.  This is notable because Peppers has spent all of his time at left tackle up until now.  While it’s not certain why the Panthers have begun moving their line around, one could conjecture that it has a lot to do with the new blood coming in along the line. With so many young players, it may be time for Peppers to move over the right side, where he will be the man facing the best blocker on the line every down.

This is a gamble for the Panthers.  They must be betting that Peppers is fully recovered from whatever ailment caused him to forget how to record sacks or tackles in huge numbers like he did up until 2007.  If they are correct in this assumption, then Peppers will return to his destructive ways and start wreaking havoc on the right side.  However, if they are incorrect, then Peppers could become even more of a non-entity when he starts facing the best blockers in the league.  Only time will tell how Peppers reacts to the possible move.

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Panthers Minicamp

The Carolina Panthers begin a three-day minicamp today.  This camp will mark the beginning in a new chapter for the Carolina Panthers.  It’s easy to forget, because they have enjoyed such great success as a franchise already, but the Panthers have only been around for a hot minute.  As such, fans may not be familiar with this intense period of transition.  After their Super Bowl trip, the Panthers treaded water for awhile before sinking like a stone.  The problem with the NFL is that you have to keep moving if you want to remain successful.

As such, it appears the Panthers have finally learned one of the most important lessons of an NFL franchise: you can’t keep your players once they’re no longer useful to the team.  This new philosophy may seem cold, but in the NFL it’s the only way to go.  The mantra of change will be on full display in this first minicamp, as the players will be forced to compete for their jobs.  This will push every single player to work even harder than usual, and will only serve to make the Carolina Panthers a more competitive football team in 2008.

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