We bring you a lot of draft talk and roster turnover discussions in part two of this week’s mailbag
Hello CSR! Welcome to Brian Answers, part two of your weekly Panthers fan mailbag for everyone!
We got a lot of questions about the Panthers off-season roster moves, draft strategy, and evaluations of the current roster for the future. To recap, Brian Answers is part two of our mailbag, where I answer questions from the comments early on in the week. These questions can be Panthers related, football related, or even completely off topic. With all that said, let’s dive in!
MrCSR: Brian, what do you think of this mock?
Just to address this now, I likely won’t be rating most mock drafts in the comments as I don’t really start a ton of in depth research into Panthers prospects until after I know what free agency looks like. I saw a suggestion in the comments about a mock draft thread for fans, this seems like a good idea that we shall consider going into the offseason. However, I will offer my grade on this one.
Not a fan of an offensive tackle with the top pick, no matter what people think of Ikem Ekwonu and/or Taylor Moton. I would expect to get a top level defender or at the very least a high end starter on offense, despite trading back a few selections. I understand the best player available mantra, but I think Carolina will be able to take a quality player at a position of need even if they trade back a little bit. Beyond that, big fan of 6 straight defensive selections after that and doubling up on EDGE if the Panthers did go offense with their top pick. I don’t think anyone will be upset if Carolina picks up more draft picks with all of their needs and replacement level depth on the roster or departing in free agency. Solid B- simply because I can’t get on board with a tackle that high for this team.
Bruce Guild: Brian
What is your biggest positive surprise of the 2024 season?
What is you biggest disappointment?
Biggest surprise to me is tied between Bryce Young’s resurgence (especially in the more advanced throwing metrics) since his return and the emergence of WR Jalen Coker. I think Bryce turning things around and playing at the level he was AFTER Carolina had seemingly pulled the plug is a testament to his ability to handle adversity, where with Coker I can see why so many draftniks were surprised he went undrafted.
Biggest disappointment to me is probably the inconsistency of offensive play calling compared to the message Dave Canales sent so early in his press conferences and interviews prior to the season. He claimed to be stubbornly committed to running the football and that just didn’t bare out in most games this season. Say what you want about the game script, especially with a bad defense. But bad things tended to happen when the Panthers went one dimensional, and it seemed to happen earlier on than many would reasonably expect in the bad games this season. I’m hoping with his first season under his belt and another off-season to mold the team to his vision will get Canales to be more balanced in 2025. This offense is just better all around when they run the ball.
Bruce Guild: What was the best uniform combo in 2024?
I have to admit I am old school and like the white on white with silver helmet.
White on white looks so crisp. Big fan of black helmets and all black as well. Hard to hate most of the choices, they just have a great color scheme.
demaxx1: We all talk about how bad the defense was his season especially against the run. How many games could we have won this season if our defense had of been better, and the offense was the same?
I think we could reasonably expect 2-3 more wins, especially with some of the close games this season. We’ll see what happens next season.
erickbuck: Against Atlanta, I think I would like to see the passing offense shine through Legette and Coker. No drops, Bryce with a steady 250+ in a close-ish game. Bryce has played well, but I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t want it to show up in the box score more.
For a question, what do you make of Xavier Legette so far?
Legette performed above my expectations early on, but definitely fell off as the season wore on. It doesn’t help that any time you trade up for a rookie, especially into the first round, the expectations are elevated. But the selling point behind Legette despite being a raw prospect was his ability to high point the ball and we just didn’t see enough of that this season. We saw backbreaking drops as well, one of which probably cost the team a win against the Eagles. But, my long term outlook is this kind of stuff can be fixable, and Legette seems to have the head on his shoulders to do so. I’m giving him the rookie year pass for now.
MarloBarksdale99: Question. Has Icky done enough for you to get an extension, and if he has does he deserve to be paid like a top 10 LT?
Same question eggsept instead of Icky put Jaycee Horn. Does he deserve top 10 CB $?
Ekwonu graded out pretty well most weeks when the starters were in. I think the mental mistakes and penalties will always be a part of his game, but I see no reason to move on from him. That said, Carolina has 1 season for sure and likely 2 since I would expect them to pick up his 5th year option. I don’t think we need to talk extensions until 2026 however.
Jaycee Horn I am an unabashed fan of and I hate that he finally put together a mostly healthy season in 2024 only for the rest of an already bad defense to fall apart around him. I would give him an extension, because just like Josh Norman before him, if you let him walk it creates an even bigger need at a position that is going to need a ton of reinforcements soon. Luckily, they don’t necessarily have to make the decision on an extension this off-season. But I would, as getting the extension signed will free up some cap space for free agency in 2025.
DannyLimes: Which game has been the highlight of the season for you and why? Same but inverse; which has been the worst and why?
The highlight for me is either the Raiders game or the Eagles game. I think the Raiders game showcased why Panthers fans weren’t crazy to have optimism around the offense, while the Eagles game showed Bryce Young has the ability to show up in big games, and he did more than enough to win that game with a deep pass in the waning seconds that, if caught, would have been one of the biggest if not THE biggest upsets of the season.
Coach_K: buy a Bryce Young jersey in 2025?
I actually bought one his rookie season, which is probably why it took him a season and a half to recover. I would if you like Bryce, if you still have your skepticism, I would wait.
KeepPounding88: What did we do to offend the football gods for them to punish us with these years of suffering?
I think releasing Cam Newton is what kick-started all of this.
dayneB12: Does Carolina have a realistic chance of signing either Tee Higgins or Chris Godwin?
Also, who are the top cut candidates for the offseason (besides the obvious Miles Sanders)?
I think after Bryce Young showed he can play with the big boys you can probably entice one of the higher end wide receivers. I still think you’re paying the crappy team tax though on the contract, though maybe not as bad comparatively to 2023 and 2024 off-season s.
Obvious cut candidates are relatively low due to how many players are already slated to hit free agency. Shy Tuttle will likely be released or have his contract re-worked. Jadeveon Clowney certainly could hit the chopping block though it isn’t like the Panthers have a ton of edge players behind him. If Adam Thielen wants to play the twilight of his career on a contender I think you let him, even though I would think he’s now a priority to return after his crazy production for Bryce Young this season. They aren’t what I’d call cut candidates since neither is under contract for 2025, but K Eddy Pineiro and P Johnny Hekker might be getting replaced as well.
Panthers75: What roster holes do you feel have been filled this year? You can include bridge guys. It’s still a roster that needs a lot of upgrades but I still feel like they’re better off than they were a year ago.
I think we can reasonably cross QB off the list as Bryce Young should be the returning starter and it seems Andy Dalton is more than willing to return in the same role next season. The offensive line seems set, you could potentially make an argument that either Cade Mays or Brady Christensen could be brought back and slide right in to the starting center position. Squint hard enough you might be able to convince me that DJ Wonnum should return as one of the starters at EDGE. Beyond that, I think every position could use reinforcements. Even RB, since Jonathon Brooks isn’t guaranteed to even have a role next season.
GooseCreek: Thanks, Brian. I’ve enjoyed your mailbag this year. Now as the transition to the off-season emerges, I’m interested in how you organize and value your available free agents and draft prospects? (read rest of comment here)
For me, I don’t really start diving into the draft prospects too terribly hard until free agency shakes out. I always monitor WRs and DBs I like just because those are positions I understand better than others, but generally this team hits free agency in a way to “supposedly” maximize their ability to be nimble in the draft. Once I see what the team actually looks like I’ll start to pay attention to what teams have been linked to the Panthers via visits etc.
As far as free agency goes, I tend to go look for guys who would realistically sign with the Panthers. More often than not over the past few seasons they don’t get the upper tier FAs that every fan of every team is talking about. The Panthers were linked to basically every edge players that was out there in some capacity last season and ended up with Clowney and Wonnum. As far as value goes, I will be going in with the expectation that most of the contracts aren’t going to be team friendly on paper. Free agency has not only ballooned to the point that most positions get big deals but also having to pay the aforementioned crappy team tax.
WakeToPanthers: Who stays and who goes? From players to coaches, what’s your prediction?
I already touched on players above, but we can talk coaches. I don’t really expect Ejiro Evero to be going anywhere, otherwise I think the Panthers would have let him go last season. I could be completely wrong, but it does seem like he was expected to just weather the storm as best he could given the majority of the high end resources went to the offense. I don’t expect Canales to be making any wholesale changes on offense either. We always see some turnovers of positional coaches, so we might see a DBs coach or front seven coach walk. But I’m not expecting any big names to be let go unless the front office/owner decides someone needs their walking papers because of the season we have witnessed.
Chuck: Why do you think Jaycee Horn’s PFF grade is so different to the perception of him? I feel like commentators and even the media in general treat him like a top corner.
His numbers aren’t terrible but they are also not great. Maybe a better pass rush, some semblance of safety play behind him, and them playing man more often (with better safeties) would improve everything.
As I’ve said many times in the past, I do not consider PFF to be a be-all-end-all grading tool more-so than another perspective to glean from. That said, their methodology looks at what a player does on every given play. Unfortunately for cornerback, that’s probably the position that suffers the most from the circumstances around them, whether its pass rush or coverage issues. I think Horn is very good and will be more the shutdown corner many fans and experts think he can be when he isn’t the only upper tier player in the secondary and on a team that can naturally generate pass rush. He’s also become quite a pass rusher himself when called up on to blitz. I think a lot of it also has to do with his injury history. It’s hard to feel comfortable paying a CB top money when they’ve missed as many games as he has.
Vehemyth: Cam Skattebo in the 3rd or 4th?
I would definitely take a 4th round flier on him.
positivebob: Will Tepper stay out of the way come the draft or get in the way of the pros he hired to do the job?
I haven’t seen any indication from Tepper or reports to think he would intervene in the draft process. His involvement in picking Bryce Young did make sense even if he was overstepping his bounds. I did not feel like he had any involvement aside from the usual staying in the loop with the 2024 draft class.
kimbersdad: Do you have any draft crushes?? Personally I like Starks. Would love for the panthers to have a legit pro bowl caliber safety for once.
I’ve wanted the Panthers to get a high end safety for years and I think a player like Malaki Starks is exactly what the doctor ordered. But I’m also very high on Abdul Carter and Mason Graham as the perfect marriage of value and need in this draft.
Scorpion Races: How many field goals does Pineiro miss this next game?
How many extra point tries will Pineiro miss this next game?
Will Pineiro be on the team next season?
Pineiro has been kicking hurt for awhile so I am not going to speculate on the misses. But I do not expect him back next season unless its a fairly cheap contract for a kicker.