Tag: Panthers Linebackers

Panthers re-sign special teams stud, LB Julian Stanford

Linebacker is one of the positions the Carolina Panthers have reinforced the most this offseason.

Linebacker is one of the positions the Carolina Panthers have reinforced the most this offseason. They upgraded inside by signing Denzel Perryman to replace Tahir Whitehead and also boosted their outside pass rush with Haason Reddick the same day. The work continued today, with the team bringing back a veteran depth piece. According to Darin Gantt, the Panthers have re-signed Julian Stanford.

Stanford is a special teams ace who came to Carolina from Buffalo. Last season he played all 16 games and was on the field for 277 snaps – mostly on special teams – which he led in tackles.

After playing his college ball at Wagner, Stanford went undrafted but he’s gone on to appear in 104 NFL games. His experience should be a welcome commodity for a young Carolina team. Overall, they are tied with the Vikings for the second-youngest roster in the league.

By our count, Stanford brings the roster to 90 players.

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Report: Panthers release LB Andre Smith

According to a report by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Panthers have released linebacker Andre Smith.

According to a report by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Panthers have released linebacker Andre Smith.

Like the recently released running back Jordan Scarlett, Smith was another questionable late round draft pick by general manager Marty Hurney. We thought he had a shot to make the 53-man roster this year, but that was never a sure thing. Experience is at a premium this season given the lack of preseason games and most of the offseason being canceled due to the pandemic. That’s going to put players like Smith at a major disadvantage as cuts begin later this week.

Smith getting cut is good news for veteran linebackers like Adarius Taylor and Julian Stanford, who are competing for a roster spot at the bottom end of the depth chart at this position. Whoever stands out on special teams will have the best chance to survive when rosters are trimmed down.

Update:

The Panthers have announced Smith’s release. No corresponding move has been reported yet as of this time. It’s possible the team is opening up space to make room for a defensive back. Over the weekend, the Athletic reported that Carolina is calling other NFL teams looking for secondary help.

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Watch: Panthers LB Andre Smith training on footwork for 2020 season

Watch backup Andre Smith training on his footwork.

Losing Luke Kuechly to an early retirement is an undeniable bummer for the Carolina Panthers defense. The team signed Tahir Whitehead in the offseason, but that won’t do much to mitigate the loss of the best off-ball linebacker of his generation.

The silver lining is that some of the younger linebackers on the team will get an opportunity to show what they can do. Watch backup Andre Smith training on his footwork.

Phil Snow may change things up. For now, we are projecting Smith as the No. 4 linebacker on the depth chart behind Whitehead, Shaq Thompson and Jermaine Carter Jr..

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Panthers linebackers ranked No. 26 by Pro Football Focus

As recently as 2018, the Panthers had the best linebacker room in football, hands down.

As recently as 2018, the Panthers arguably had the best linebacker room in the NFL. That might as well be ancient history, though. Going into the 2020 season, Shaq Thompson has graduated from behind the third-best on the roster to the No. 1 option.

As you might expect, this unit’s esteem has taken a serious hit thanks to Luke Kuechly’s early retirement. According to Pro Football Focus, Carolina’s linebacker corps only ranks No. 26 in the league going into 2020.

“Thompson is a solid coverage player who takes on plenty of responsibility within Carolina’s scheme; he plays under control — and has missed only 42 tackles in his five-year career — and he wins with quickness in the run game where he’s graded at 70.0-plus in all but one year of his career. Tahir Whitehead takes the first crack at replacing Kuechly after two years in Oakland in which he graded in the 50s. Whitehead hasn’t posted a coverage grade above 60.0 since 2015, though he has graded well in the run game in two of the last three years.”

It’s going to take time to rebuild this defense no matter what, but it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to use the No. 8 overall pick on Isaiah Simmons. Not only would he have radically improved the linebacker group, his ability to play multiple positions would have given defensive coordinator Phil Snow more options. Until Derrick Brown develops into a superstar or Simmons turns into a bust, we’re going to die on this hill.

The good news is there is some depth behind Thompson and Whitehead. Jordan Kunaszyk looked promising during the preseason last year and there are a few undrafted free agents that also have potential.

The wild-cards here are Jermaine Carter Jr. and Andre Smith, who have served as the top backups the last couple of seasons. It’s tough to say how much playing time Matt Rhule will give them if things go bad.

Another unkown is how many snaps Jeremy Chinn will put in at linebacker. He projects as a safety, but he should be lined up all over the place to take advantage of his skill-set.

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