Although they’ve had themselves a pretty successful offseason to this point, the Carolina Panthers have gone a bit under the radar when it comes to anything not pertaining to Deshaun Watson. But how low did they stay under that radar?
Over at Seahawks Wire, courtesy of an old friend in Tim Weaver, sits a fresh set of power rankings following what was a busy March for the NFL. So did Carolina’s handful of shrewd moves help move them up from the basement just yet?
Well, not really . . .
“Adding Matt Ioannidis, Cory Littleton and Xavier Woods on defense will help some, but the Panthers suffered a big blow when they lost their best pass rusher when Haason Reddick signed with the Eagles,” writes Weaver, who positions the Panthers at No. 29 overall. “On offense, a healthy Christian McCaffrey would go a long way towards making them more competitive but if Sam Darnold is going to start at quarterback then this team’s ceiling remains very low.”
And that, of course, is where the ultimate decider resides—under center.
The Panthers have filled out their depth chart rather smoothly thus far. In addition to those signings on defense, general manager Scott Fitterer has plugged up the other side of the ball, too—with offensive linemen Austin Corbett and Bradley Bozeman as well as running back D’Onta Foreman and wideout Rashard Higgins. Heck (or “Hekk”), even punter Johnny Hekker was a sweet deal to swing.
But as long as they continue to employ Darnold as their top option at the all-important position, the Panthers cannot be taken seriously as any type of legitimate contender. So although the pieces around that spot have been largely addressed, you can only go as far as your quarterback does.
Unfortunately, as of now, Darnold hasn’t gone much of anywhere.
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