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According to PFF, Panthers CBs fell flat in their first game without Jaycee Horn this season.
Were this week’s Pro Football Focus grades as ugly as the game we got out of the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints last night?
Let’s take a look at the best and worst marks for the Panthers in their 20-17 loss:
WR DJ Chark is officially a go for the Panthers in tonight’s clash with the Saints.
Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers will have a little more firepower on offense tonight.
As first reported by ESPN senior NFL insider Jeremy Fowler, and later confirmed by the team’s official release of their inactive list, wide receiver DJ Chark is a go for the Monday night matchup with the New Orleans Saints.
Chark, who missed last week’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons with a hamstring injury, was listed as questionable coming into the contest. After two limited practices on Thursday and Friday, the 26-year-old pass catcher was a full participant for Saturday’s session.
Also joining him in uniform will be starting right tackle Taylor Moton, who did not have a game designation on the final injury report. Moton is now set to play in his 100th consecutive game, the fifth-longest streak (and longest for a non-specialist) in franchise history.
Here is who won’t be active for Carolina in their home opener:
And as for the Saints’ inactives:
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Panthers WR DJ Chark (hamstring) is questionable for Monday night’s showdown with the Saints. He practiced in full today.
The Carolina Panthers may be going into their Monday night matchup against the New Orleans Saints with a full deck . . . or at least as full as it can be.
Saturday’s injury report, the last before the upcoming Week 2 outing, lists wide receiver DJ Chark and starting right tackle Taylor Moton as full participants. Chark is trying to get back after missing the team’s season opener due to his hamstring injury and Moton (biceps) is aiming towards playing in his 100th straight game.
Chark is down as questionable for the contest while Moton was not saddled with a game designation.
No longer included on the listing is cornerback Jaycee Horn, who was placed on injured reserve yesterday afternoon. The 23-year-old defender sustained a “serious” hamstring injury in last weekend’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons and is expected to be out for an “extended period of time,” per head coach Frank Reich.
This’ll also be the first game in which Carolina will be without starting left guard Brady Christensen, who will be sidelined for the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery on his biceps injury.
Here’s the report in its entirety:
| Injury | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Game status | |
| WR DJ Chark | Hamstring | Limited | Limited | Full | Questionable |
| OT Taylor Moton | Biceps | Limited | Limited | Full | – |
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The Panthers listed WR DJ Chark and RT Taylor Moton as limited participants from Friday’s walk-through.
The Carolina Panthers took it easy this morning, just three days ahead of their Monday night matchup against the New Orleans Saints. Rather than a typical practice, the team met up for a walk-through to prepare for the big Week 2 showcase.
Nonetheless, the injury report remained the same.
Both wide receiver DJ Chark and right tackle Taylor Moton were, once again, listed as limited participants. While cornerback Jaycee Horn, whose hamstring injury will keep him sidelined for an extended period of time, was out.
| Injury | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Game status | |
| CB Jaycee Horn | Hamstring | DNP | DNP | ||
| WR DJ Chark | Hamstring | Limited | Limited | ||
| OT Taylor Moton | Biceps | Limited | Limited |
Moton, just as his fellow starting lineman Brady Christensen, came out of last weekend with a biceps injury. But Christensen, who underwent surgery on Thursday, will miss the remainder of the 2023 campaign.
So hopefully for rookie quarterback Bryce Young, he won’t be down another hog molly (or another wideout) in his NFL primetime debut.
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Here, as announced by HC Frank Reich on Wednesday, are the team captains for the 2023 Carolina Panthers:
On Wednesday, Carolina Panthers head coach Frank Reich officially named the six team captains for the 2023 season.
Here they are:
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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Why is Panthers OT Taylor Moton so bald at 29 years old? He has a hunch . . .
After what we saw on Saturday, there’s plenty of improvement to be had along the Carolina Panthers’ offensive line—and Taylor Moton is no exception . . . ever.
The seventh-year right tackle spoke with reporters following Monday’s practice, less than 48 hours after his unit turned out a stinker in the preseason opener. But instead making it about the group as a whole, he made it about self-accountability.
“I’m my own biggest critic,” said Moton, who was celebrating his 29th birthday. “I have been for seven years. Maybe that’s why I’m so bald at so young. I stress myself out to the max about making sure I’m the best I possibly can be.
“I have so much love for everyone in the room, but I just want what’s best for them, so it’s like, what can I do to help those guys get better? What can I do to myself be the best version of myself, right? ‘Cause I really wanna have my best year yet, personally. ‘Cause I know if I could have my best year, I can only help the offense that much more, right?”
Carolina, in the disappointing 27-0 loss, allowed eight hits and five sacks of their quarterbacks on Saturday. The most notable of the pops came on the opening drive, when No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young absorbed a pair of vicious wallopings after a few throws.
As for Moton, he’s fresh off a 2022 campaign where he allowed 21 pressures—the second-fewest over his last five seasons. So if he keeps getting better (and maybe even balder), Young and the offense may be okay moving forward.
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Panthers RT Taylor Moton told reporters that Cade Mays is currently doing a great job of being the next man up for the injured Austin Corbett.
Austin Corbett may not be on the practice field for the Carolina Panthers right now, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t helped Taylor Moton and the rest of his fellow hog mollies.
After Monday’s session of training camp, the team’s starting right tackle spoke about the team’s starting right guard—who won’t be the starting right guard when the regular season starts. Nonetheless, Moton praised Corbett for his presence in Spartanburg thus far.
“I think, day in and day out, we’re continuing to grow our chemistry together,” he said of the offensive line. “I love all the guys in the room. And even though Austin’s not with us right now, on the field, he’s doin’ a great job coaching everyone up. He’s still 100 percent dialed in.”
Unfortunately for the Panthers, Corbett likely won’t be at 100 percent healthy come Week 1. The sixth-year veteran tore his ACL in the 2022 finale against the New Orleans Saints and is still on the road to recovery.
Until then, it may be second-year guard Cade Mays who makes a push to fill in for Corbett.
“And I believe Cade’s doin’ a great job of that ‘next man in’ mentality,” Moton added. “And we’re continuing to grow and passin’ off twists, dominating on combos in the run block, So, it’s been great playing with ’em so far.”
While general manager Scott Fitterer stopped short of naming Mays as the projected replacement last week, it seems as though the 2022 sixth-rounder has the edge in the battle. Other options still include veterans Justin McCray and Michael Jordan as well as rookie Chandler Zavala, who is also currently sidelined with a hamstring injury.
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Here’s how the Panthers’ hog mollies are stacking up in the “Madden NFL 24” ratings:
For the first time in some time, the Carolina Panthers seem to have an offensive line they can rely upon. But do the folks over at EA Sports feel the same way?
Here are the “Madden NFL 24” ratings for the team’s offensive linemen:
The Panthers’ offensive line made a hog molly-sized jump up PFF’s offseason rankings.
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Started from the bottom, now they’re here. (And by “here,” we don’t mean the very top—at least not yet.)
Pro Football Focus lead NFL analyst Sam Monson recently released his rankings of the NFL’s 32 offensive lines. Coming in at No. 16, after ranking 24th on this very list in 2022, are the Carolina Panthers.
Monson included the following notes about the ascending hog mollies:
– Carolina is another team banking on internal development and stability paying dividends. The unit climbed from 31st in the rankings to the fringes of the top 10 last season.
– Brady Christensen will be on the hot seat after earning a 57.3 PFF grade last year, but rookie Chandler Zavala is now there to provide competition.
– Taylor Moton allowed just 21 pressures in 17 games and remains one of the best pass-protecting right tackles in football.
Moton, however, will likely not be joined by his fellow starter in guard Austin Corbett on that right side to start the season. Corbett, who is recovering from a torn ACL, is expected to miss time to kick off 2023.
Carolina does, however, have some depth that can hold it down. That right guard position could be manned by Zavala, Christensen, free-agent signing Justin McCray, Cade Mays or Michael Jordan.
The competition for the spot, and the one on the other side of center Bradley Bozeman, will really amp up in about six weeks.
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