Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Bryce Young’s most productive preseason performance got him his highest PFF grade of the summer.
Here, in the midst of the big roster cutdown, are the best and worst Pro Football Focus grades for the Carolina Panthers’ preseason finale.
Should Panthers fans be panicking about their offensive line’s flat preseason performances?
Yes, the Carolina Panthers are only two weeks into preseason play. So starters are not fully delving into offensive schemes and know that this is not make-or-break time for the upcoming season.
But with that being said, is what we have seen out of the potential Week 1 starting offensive line concerning? There is little question about that.
Just about everyone on the front not named Taylor Moton was, at the very least, somewhat of a liability against the talented defensive lines of the New York Jets and New York Giants.
Starting with the interior, both guard spots—manned by Brady Christensen on the left and either Cade Mays or Chandler Zavala on the right—were often beat during the pair of outings. And while, again, the offensive schemes aren’t in full swing, there isn’t much of a way to scheme being physically dominated by the likes of Quinnen Williams and Dexter Lawrence.
Austin Corbett, who’s on the road to recovery from an ACL tear, returning sooner rather than later would obviously help meld that interior. But it’s still rather troubling, especially given rookie quarterback Bryce Young’s particularly small and short stature, that the group is having difficulty meshing. Interior pressure is hard to deal with, and having big men in the face of Young down the middle is going to lead to some very unproductive offense.
Much has also been made of left tackle Ikem Ekwonu’s performances, and there is a good reason for that. While head coach Frank Reich has expressed confidence in the 2022 sixth overall pick, Ekwonu has seemingly regressed from his rookie campaign.
As opposed to the better part of his first pro season, he’s looked jumpy and a bit uncomfortable dealing with speed. The hits he has allowed on Young so far have been ugly, even if one of them was a ‘communication issue.’
Does all this mean Panther fans should wave the white flag on the season and their young offensive tackle? No, of course not.
This team is still growing together, and offensive lines take a while to gel when new players are thrown into them. Having Corbett back will help from a performance and leadership standpoint and Ekwonu still clearly has all the potential he had when he was selected last spring.
Putting your trust in offensive line coach James Campen and one of the best staffs in the league to fix this also seems like a wise bet. Truly, we will find out rather quickly in the regular season whether this offensive lines has been situated.
And if not, it could be a long and painful season for Carolina’s new franchise quarterback.
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Panthers LT Ikem Ekwonu has had a rough preseason. But HC Frank Reich told reporters that he has no concerns about one of the anchors of his OL.
One of the most important players on the Carolina Panthers roster is having one of the team’s most disappointing preseasons. But that doesn’t seem to bother head coach Frank Reich much.
Reich spoke with reporters on Sunday, less than 48 hours after his squad’s 21-19 loss to the New York Giants. Included in the defeat was another concerning performance from left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, one lowlighted by this . . .
Kayvon Thibodeaux blowing past fellow 2022 1st round pick Ikem Ekwonu 👀 📈
(🎥 @nickfalato) pic.twitter.com/72XxT8RbBs
— uSTADIUM App (@uSTADIUM) August 20, 2023
Reich was asked about the sack.
“Yeah, it was a miscommunication,” he said. “There was a line call made and thought we heard one thing and two words that sound similar and two words that sound similar and in the heat of the battle—we heard the wrong word.”
Ekwonu has also put up some wrong numbers in his pair of exhibition outings. The 2022 sixth overall pick has allowed three pressures over 18 total dropbacks and is currently saddled with a 17.0 pass-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus—the lowest of any Carolina offensive lineman.
Nonetheless, Reich doesn’t seem worried.
“A lot of confidence in Ickey,” he added. “I have no concerns about him playing winning football and being one of the true anchors to our offensive line. The year he had last year and the training camp that he’s had—I think not only is he gonna be a really good player for us, I think he’s gonna be a good leader.
“We have had a couple miscues he’s been involved in, but those things will get worked out.”
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With a pair of impressive outings on Friday, Raheem Blackshear and Shi Smith may be getting closer to securing their spots on the Panthers’ 53-man roster.
Who took the biggest steps forward and who took a few steps back in Friday night’s preseason loss to the New York Giants?
Here are our studs and duds from the Carolina Panthers’ second preseason outing of the summer:
Ikem Ekwonu was named the Panthers’ likeliest leap candidate for the 2023 campaign.
How far can a hog molly leap? Well, according to NFL.com’s Next Gen Stats analyst Keegan Abdoo, perhaps pretty high.
Abdoo recently named 32 players who are primed to break through for their teams in the 2023 season. For the Carolina Panthers, he sees second-year left tackle Ikem Ekwonu making that leap:
The first offensive tackle off the board in the 2022 NFL Draft looks to build off an impressive rookie season where he played every snap. According to Pro Football Focus, Ekwonu allowed a pressure on just 5.2 percent of his pass-blocking snaps, the third-lowest in a season by a rookie left tackle in the last decade. Despite Carolina bringing in a new coaching regime, Ekwonu will have continuity in his position room, as new head coach Frank Reich retained the offensive line coach from the last regime, James Campen.
Ekwonu expressed a similar sentiment at the start of this summer’s training camp. He told reporters that he’s excited to get into his second campaign with Campen and his comrades.
“Obviously, having that continuation with the offensive line is great,” he said on July 27. “We already have some background chemistry, so that was good. We got a lot of things we can build off of last year, and we all got to watch it together and grow together as a unit.”
The start of this sophomore year, however, didn’t get off to much of an exciting start. Ekwonu allowed two pressures of rookie quarterback Bryce Young in last Saturday’s preseason opener against the New York Jets, which is now almost infamous for the unit’s lackluster outing.
So, the growing will have to continue.
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Cameron Erving on Panthers’ O-line in preseason loss to Jets: ‘The s— was not good enough at any level . . . ‘
The Carolina Panthers’ offensive line played party pooper on Saturday.
In what was supposed to be a cheery introduction into a new era for the hopeful franchise, yesterday’s preseason opener ended being quite the stinker. The visiting New York Jets, even without four-time Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers, had their way—big-dogging the cats en route to a 27-0 thrashing.
Chief among Carolina’s issues was a feeble effort from its hog mollies, who combined to allow eight quarterback hits and five sacks during the exhibition. After the game, veteran Cameron Erving spoke about the private (and probably not peachy) meeting held by offensive line coach James Campen and the unit.
“Camp called us in, and we just talked. We had to keep it real with each other; the s— wasn’t good enough,” Erving said, via Darin Gantt of Panthers.com. “Top to bottom, it doesn’t matter if it was preseason, regular season, or offseason. The s— was not good enough at any level, from any position, myself included, especially myself. All we can do is come back, try to regroup, and f—ing fix it.”
From starter Bryce Young to backup Matt Corral, the Panthers’ passers faced a constant stream of pressure throughout the contest. Starting left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, who allowed a crushing hit of Young on the opening drive, had a similar sentiment on the sour performance.
“Just disappointed. Not what we’re looking for at all,” he said. “He shouldn’t be getting hit at all. That’s on us. We just weren’t good enough today.
“We’ve got to just attack it. A lot of things on tape we’ve got to fix. So that’s the goal going into next week.”
Hopefully for Young, Corral and the rest of the offense, the group will just flush this one and light a few matches.
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The Panthers put out a whole dud to kick off a new era on Saturday afternoon.
Welp, that wasn’t the inspiring start of a new era we were looking for, was it?
The Carolina Panthers were silenced by the New York Jets at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday, taking a 27-0 loss to kick off their 2023 preseason.
So, as we try to shake off that stinky stand, let’s sort out the studs and duds from the disappointing result.
A couple of early training camp stars are emerging for the Panthers down in Spartanburg.
After a thrilling start to training camp on Wednesday, the Carolina Panthers returned to the field at Wofford College for their second practice this morning.
Here are the top takeaways and observations from the session:
Panthers LT Ikem Ekwonu is feeling more confident as he settles into his second career training camp.
The Carolina Panthers’ 2022 first-round pick has been a bit overshadowed by the Carolina Panthers’ 2023 first-round pick at training camp—even in the singing department. But that doesn’t mean the former hasn’t been shining.
On Thursday, left tackle Ikem Ekwonu spoke with reporters in Spartanburg for the first time this summer. He was asked about the biggest difference between his first training camp and his second.
“I think just confidence overall,” he replied. “Obviously, last year as a rookie, there’s a lot of things I didn’t know, I don’t know—technique-wise, practice-wise, everything like that. So, kinda havin’ a good feel about how to practice, good feel about my technique, just more confident overall as a player.”
Ekwonu’s rising confidence was a theme for him during his rookie campaign as well. After a rough few weeks to start his NFL career, having been charged with three sacks over two starts, the 2022 sixth overall pick allowed just three more in the remaining 15 outings.
He also talked about entering his second campaign under offensive line coach James Campen and his fellow hog mollies.
“It’s been great,” he said. “Obviously, having that continuation with the offensive line is great. We already have some background chemistry, so that was good. We got a lot of things we can build off of last year, and we all got to watch it together and grow together as a unit. So, definitely excited.”
And while his performance in last year’s talent show may have been one-upped by Bryce Young’s from Wednesday, Ekwonu probably won’t have any qualms about protecting the rookie quarterback and his pipes in Year No. 2.
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Panthers QB Bryce Young went with the stylings of Keyshia Cole for his rookie talent show act and apparently brought the house down in Spartanburg.
Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young kept his act on the down low ahead of Wednesday night’s rookie talent show. But apparently, there was nothing low about it.
The No. 1 overall pick may have very well been the star of the team’s annual training camp display, where first-year youngsters are tasked with entertaining the vets. Just check out this sparkling review from the organization’s second-longest tenured player, linebacker Shaq Thompson:
“He had a hell of a performance. I thought I was at a concert, to be honest with ya. Bryce had a hell of a performance.
“Everybody enjoyed it. He got into it. Tryin’ to tell ya, it was like a concert. He set the stage. He set the stage.”
Second-year left tackle Ikem Ekwonu also spoke about the spectacle following Thursday’s practice. Ekwonu, who was the featured performer from last year’s show, was asked if Young topped his 2022 rendition of “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye [to Yesterday]” by Boyz II Men.
“I’d say so—because last year, they didn’t sing along with me,” he replied with a smile. “They clapped it up though, I got a standing ovation. But we definitely sang along with Bryce. So I’ma give him the one-up on that one.”
So, what did Bryce belt out?
“He sang a Keyshia Cole song,” Ekwonu added of what he called an ‘A+’ showing. “I can’t remember what it’s called. He brought the house down. He brought the house down. It was crazy.”
As of this writing, there is no word on if Young and Ekwonu will branch off as an R&B duo.
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