2017 Carolina Panthers grades through first 6 weeks

The 2017 Carolina Panthers came into the season with an abundance of issues and questions needing to be answered around the whole team. Cameron Newton was coming off of a miserable 2016 season where expectations skyrocketed due to the 2015 season. Injuries plagued the Panthers in 2016 with multiple starters on both sides of the ball including all pro linebacker Luke Kuechly missing the last 6 games of the season after suffering a concussion in week 10. Not to mention the offensive line for the Panthers by the end of the season consisted of multiple backups and practice squad players with the most notable injury coming to Ryan Kalil, the central nervous system of the Carolina Panthers O-Line. Even the star of the team, Newton wasn't even 100% healthy and played the last few games of the season with a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. Going into the 2017 training camp many critics and even Panthers homers like me were worried if he could get back to 100% sometime before or during the season. With Cam's first passes not coming till June 26th, he was way behind schedule. When preseason loomed Cam only played one drive out of all 4 pre season games throwing two passes. Yes. Two passes to get ready for the 2017 season. Thankfully the GM and team decided to give Cam a weapon he has had before to help with the process of coming back into rhythm and not having to throw deep on every play to give his shoulder some added rest. This weapon is Christian McCaffery, running back out of Stanford. Christian, a highly touted dual threat finished as the runner up in the 2015 Heisman race losing to Derrick Henry. McCaffery had averaged 173.9 yards from scrimmage and had 16 touchdowns in 11 Games. He even broke the record for most all purpose yards in a single season set by the legendary Barry sanders who held the record at 3,250 yards, breaking it quite easily and finishing with 3,864 yards. The Panthers haven't drafted this type of game breaking talent since they took Cam in the 2011 draft #1 overall. Fast forward to week 6 and Cam has come into rhythm after the first 3 weeks where he only threw for 566 yards, 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Many of the critics were happy to be right, seeing Cam fall and struggle is a treat for them to watch. After a horrible week 3 throwing three interceptions against long time division rival Saints, Cam addressed the worried, and distraught fans confused on the offensive struggles saying “Moving forward, there’s no need to panic, there’s no need to rush, there’s no need to be up in arms about our situation,". Cam was right, there was no need to panic at all and most fans including me didn't realize this. A quarterback with little to no time to work out the rust in training camp or the reason will take some time to come into stride. the next 3 weeks after the 34-13 beating received from the saints, Cam has thrown for 910 yards and 7 touchdowns to go along with 2 rushing touchdowns. Over this stretch the Panthers went 2-1 while going into the home of the defending Super bowl 52 Champions, and A underrated Detroit team and coming out with two big wins. The lone loss in these 3 games was to the top team in the NFC, The Philadelphia Eagles. the Panthers pretty much did everything to give the game away, with multiple turnovers and little to no running game and still only lost by 5 points and had multiple chances to win the game. I am very optimistic over the next 10 games, partly because I am a big homer and will always believe in this team until they prove me wrong. In the next section of this post I will be grading the position groups of the Panthers based on the 6 games played from a A to F scale, No bias included. I hope this year is the year to prevail and finally take home the Lombardy trophy to the Carolinas for the first time, but only time will tell.

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QB: B

Starting out the season Cam was rusty as most who know about the team expected. With missing the preseason it was going to take some time for the

former MVP to get back to his previous form. Week 4 started his coming party, throwing for 316 yards 3 Touchdowns and adding another on the ground. This

was the cam we have been accustomed to seeing and it was great to see him

get his confidence back and be himself again. QB1 continued the trend the next

week in Detroit throwing for over 300 yards in consecutive weeks for the first

time since the first two weeks of his historic rookie season. If it wasn't for the Panthers getting up to a big lead early Cam could have thrown for over 400

easily but there was no need. You could tell his touch was back and the timing

with his receivers was improving drastically. Following the back to back wins

Cam was in for a tough test against the best team in the NFC, Philadelphia

Eagles. Due to the running game or lack thereof the panthers offense was

revolved completely around Newton where he lead the team in rushing along

with throwing over 50 times on a short week with a not fully healed shoulder.

Little to no time in the pocket resulted in rushed throws and multiple sacks. 3 interceptions were thrown which the first was caused of him getting hit when he released the ball, the 2nd interception was caused when Jonathan stewart fumbled the ball into the defenders hands. The last pick was caused by a miscommunication by Kelvin Benjamin and Cam. Cam has come back into form and the Eagles game was a tough game, on a short week. Expect him to bounce back this week against the Bears in a easier test and a longer time to rest and recover from throwing 50+ passes.

RB's : C+

Over the past 6 games the running game has been a weakness for the panthers. The reason for

the low grade is the lack of quality run blocking due to starting all pro center, Ryan Kalil being out

since week 2of the season and the starting tackles struggling. With a backup center and problems

at tackle it is limiting the holes for the backs to create big plays. On 85 attempts Jonathan stewart is

only averaging 2.9 YPC (Yards per Carry) coming out to only 247 yards. McCaffery the top 10 talent,

has a even worse YPC at 2.7 on 38 attempts with a total of only 104 yards.Against the Eagles stewart

totaled -8 Yards on 4 carries, It marked the second-fewest yards on five or more carries in franchise history.

The only positive with the running backs is the ability for McCaffery to be a decoy for defenses. There

have been multiple times where the opposing defenses have left other players wide open to focus on

the threat of McCaffery in the open field. When he does catch the ball out of the backfield he is averaging

7.9 yards per reception. Christian is on the cusp of big plays, he is one or two cuts away from breaking off

a big play and don't be surprised if you see him breakout sooner then later.

WR's and TE's: B

The Carolina Panthers receievers have been ridiculed often by fans and analysts for being

hit or miss for how talented they are. Everyone has been waiting for one of the two talented

receivers to breakout and use their height to win 1 on 1 match-ups. When Greg Olsen went down

with a foot injury and would be out an extended period of time, it was now or never for Funchess

and Benjamin. Of course the receiver play is hinged on the QB's play and when Cam got into

rhythm so did they. Funchess has come and established himself as a target to depend on with two

key touchdowns against the patriots and added another one with a spectacular catch against the lions.

On the other side Kelvin may not have many touchdowns but is becoming a consistent threat for the

team and is top 20 in the NFL in receiving yards through the first 6 weeks. There is another name that

no one thought would be preforming at a high level. His name is Ed Dickson. Ed has been in Carolina for

a couple of years but has mainly been used as a blocking TE with Olsen getting a majority of the targets.

Kelvin and Devin were not the only ones who had to step up with Cam's favorite target out. Since Greg

has gone down Ed has come into the spotlight with a huge 175 yard game against the lions. He has over

300 yards and has come into the starting role very nicely. For right now I give this group a B, they can be

hit or miss depending on the game and need more consistency to get a better grade but confidence for

these pass catchers seem to go up every game.

Offensive Line: D

Well lets just get right to it. The Panthers offensive line has been very abysmal since Ryan Kalil got injured

during the week leading up to playing the Buffalo Bills. Ryan Kalil like I mentioned many times in this post,

is the most important player on the offensive line. Kalil can call out blitzes and has a connection with Cam

that the backup center simply doesn't have. Having Kalil out is one problem but the tackles struggling with

a backup center in makes the offensive guards job a lot harder. The pro bowl guards, Trai Turner and Andrew

Norwell have to help the Tackles in Pass protection which leaves the backup center all on his own. The line

has allowed 17 sacks and is bottom 3 in the league in rushing average. Having the Tight Ends help block is

almost a must at this point. The panthers need Ryan Kalil back desperately and it should help dramatically

with the running game and pass protection.

Defensive Line : A

The Carolina Panthers defensive line has been spectacular this season. With the addition of 18 year vet

Julius Peppers the D-Line has exceeded expectations by a large amount. Julius peppers is 6th in the league

with 6.5 sacks through 6 games. Pep has added a spark to this defensive line along with other important pieces

such as Kawaan Short, Star Lotulelei, Mario Addison , Wes Horton , Charles Johnson , etc. They have playmakers throughout the whole group and they keep producing every game. The pass rush isn't the only thing going for the defensive line. The panthers rush defense ranks top 10 in the NFL.The interior defensive line consisting of KK, Star, Kyle love and Vernon Butler is a huge part of contributing to this ranking. One of the many strengths is getting off blocks quickly to stuff the gaps. Expect the Panthers to beat the amount of sacks they had in 2016, of 47 by a good amount with 20 in 6 games.

Linebackers: B-

One of the biggest strengths of the Panthers defense is their linebackers. Ever since Luke Kuechly was

drafted and Thomas Davis got fully healthy they have been renowned as one of the best linebacker cores.

This season there have been great moments and some lapses. Luke Kuechly hasn't been the best but even

average for him is still better then 90% of the other linebackers in the NFL. Thomas Davis has shown his ages

at time with lapses in coverage, and opposing offenses targeting him while guarding the slot. When Davis

went down and was taken out due to injury the panthers put in Shaq Thompson, a very underrated "joker"

type linebacker who can drop back in coverage like a safety and not miss a beat. In my opinion more snaps

should go to Shaq to groom him for when Davis retires. Even tho Davis gets beat sometimes in coverage he

is a great pass rusher and run stopper. Now we all know Luuuuukeee has had trouble with concussions but

the backup play behind him with David Mayo has been far from the presence Kuechly brings yet is a great

substitute and played well when 59 went out with a "concussion" on thursday night. I hope Kuechlys Hall of

fame career isn't cut short by the amount of concussions he has had, although if Luke was to miss time during

this season i don't see a weakness with him out thanks to David Mayos reserve play.

Secondary: C

The secondary was a clear weakness after the debacle with Josh Norman and David Gettleman in 2015.

after Norman left there was an obvious lack of star power in the back end. Gettleman decided to double

down on Corners with James Bradberry and Daryl Worley becoming the starters. They had some scrutiny

last season with the two rookies having some trouble while just getting into the system that season. The

two still showed some flashes, especially the Josh Norman look-a-like, Bradberry. James was ranked as

one of the top 5 rookie corners according to Pro Football Focus. This season has been a little different.

The panthers have not had one interception and Bradberrys lack of making plays along with Worley struggling

and getting benched have attributed to this. The Panthers also added another familiar face signing Captain

Munnerlyn, a former panther who provides added depth to the thin secondary and is a valuable asset in nickel formations. On the back end Kurt Coleman and Mike Adams have held down the rest of the secondary with their leadership and ability to make big plays. Kurt Coleman recently got injured during the Patriots game and the secondary has been missing his presence ever since. The Panthers brought up Dezmen Southward from the

practice squad and signed veteran safety,Jarius Byrd to help in his absence. For the rest of the season the

secondary as a whole needs to force more turnovers and interceptions to help the offense have short fields

on drives and the team win games. There is a direct correlation to winning the turnover battle and winning

games. In 2015 the Panthers were +20 in turnover differential. As of right now they are -6, more turnovers

need to come or the team is in for a tough time winning games.

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Overall: B+

With the Panthers coming into the season with many question marks all around the team, to start 4-2 is a major success through 6 games. With Cam coming into stride you can expect the offense to get better and better as Newton becomes more comfortable and his arm strength improves. Half of the team captains are currently injured and if Luke Kuechlys injury proves to be a bad concussion it could be more then half. To go 4-2 without those key players is a huge step in the right direction for this team. New players are stepping up and leaders are being made, If the panthers make the playoff and have all of their captains back, it will be a scary team to face. There are some issues in the secondary and changes might have to be made, they have already started these changes with benching Daryl Worley. The defense continues to be the strength but if the offense can open up the playbook and stretch the ball downfield the offense can be 2015 type great with the new additions of Curtis Samuel and McCaffery. The rest of the season will be interesting to watch with the many stories unfolding and new players coming into the spotlight.

#camnewton #panthers #nfl #Kuechly