Carolina Panthers look to bounce back in 2017
By Collin Giuliani
After advancing to the Super Bowl for the second time in franchise history in 2015, the Carolina Panthers followed that up with a disappointing season. In 2016, the Panthers became the first team since the 2007 Chicago Bears to have a losing record the year after making the Super Bowl, the first team since the 2007 Chicago Bears to finish last in their division the year after making the Super Bowl, and the first team since the 2005 Philadelphia Eagles to have at least 10 losses the year after making the Super Bowl.
Following three straight postseason appearances, the Panthers were unable to meet the expectations set for them at the start of the 2016 season. While Carolina went a respectable .500 over the final 10 games of the season, a 1-5 start, with the lone win coming against the hapless San Francisco 49ers (the worst team in the conference), put the Panthers in a hole from the start. With the new season about to start, here are the major questions on both sides of the ball surrounding the Panthers if they want to make it back to the playoffs for the fourth time in the last five years.
Offense- Can Cam Newton Bounce Back?
Outside of winning the Super Bowl, the 2015 season could not have gone much better for Cam Newton. He became the first player in franchise history to ever be named the MVP of the league, threw for a career-high 35 touchdowns (prior to that, his career high was 24), and was responsible for 45 touchdowns, picking up 10 rushing touchdowns to go along with his 35 passing touchdowns. Though he did not play in the Pro Bowl (since players who are playing in the Super Bowl cannot play in this exhibition game), he was nominated to the game for the third time in his career, and finished tied with Carson Palmer, Eli Manning, and Blake Bortles for the second most touchdown passes in the league.
The 2016 season, however, was a bit of a different story, as the encore to Cam’s fantastic 2015 season was a major letdown. Last season, he completed less than 53 percent of his passes, which was the worst completion percentage of his career, threw just 19 touchdown passes, which was one shy of the worst total of his entire career, and finished the season with a 75.8 passer rating, which was the worst passer rating of his career.
Entering this season, Cam will have some additional help. Kelvin Benjamin is now two years removed from his torn ACL from 2015 before the start of the season, so he should be back at full strength. After trying to trade up for Leonard Fournette in the draft but being unable to do so, according to Pat Kirwan, the Panthers spent their first round pick on Christian McCaffrey, a halfback out of Stanford that looked impressive in the preseason, and led the Pac-12 in rushing yards in his final two seasons. And, in the second round, the Panthers chose Curtis Samuel, a wide receiver out of Ohio State who finished second in the Big Ten in receptions last season with 74, only behind Austin Carr out of Northwestern, who had 90.
Additionally, the Panthers gave Cam some help on the offensive line. In his first six seasons with the Panthers, Cam has already been sacked 221 times, and missed two games last season with a concussion. The Panthers responded by signing tackle Matt Kalil, the younger brother of starting center Ryan Kalil, to a five-year contract worth $55 million, and by drafting Taylor Moton, a tackle out of Western Michigan, in the second round of the draft with a draft pick acquired from the New England Patriots.
This year, Cam has a fair amount of tools around him to succeed. If he can stay healthy, then he has an opportunity to bounce back from his disappointing 2016 campaign. The NFL is a quarterback-driven league, as it is incredibly difficult to make the postseason without a good quarterback. For the Panthers to bounce back from a disappointing 6-10 season, they will need Cam Newton to play more like he did in 2015, and less like he did last season.
Defense- Can The Secondary Improve?
In 2015, Josh Norman had a breakout season, starting all 16 games for the Panthers and being named to the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career. Entering the 2016 season, he was listed on the NFL Top 100 (a poll of the top players in the National Football League according to current players) as the best cornerback in the league. However, prior to the 2016 NFL Draft, the Panthers decided to let Norman walk, rescinding his franchise tag. With Josh Norman now in Washington, this left a big hole in Carolina’s secondary.
For Carolina, much of their problems defensively could be attributed to the secondary. The Panthers allowed 4,291 passing yards last season, which ranked 29th in the NFL out of 32 teams. Opposing quarterbacks completed 66.8 percent of passes against the Carolina defense, which ranked 30th in the NFL. While the defensive line did its job, recording 47 sacks (second in the NFL, only behind the 48 sacks recorded by the Arizona Cardinals), the secondary struggled for most of the season.
The lowlights were not few and far between. There was the game against San Francisco where Blaine Gabbert matched his career high in touchdown passes and almost managed to erase a 21-point deficit. There was the game against New Orleans where Drew Brees threw for 465 yards, and allowed more touchdowns (five) than punts (four). There was the game against Atlanta where Matt Ryan completed over 81 percent of his passes and led the Falcons to three scores on the first three drives of the game. And, of course, there was the other game against Atlanta where Julio Jones recorded 300 receiving yards on Carolina’s porous secondary, which marked just the sixth time in NFL history and the second time since 1990 that a receiver recorded 300 yards in a single game.
In fairness to the Panthers, the secondary did improve at the end of the season. James Bradberry, a second round pick out of Samford, was one of the few highlights from last season, with Charlotte Observer writer Scott Fowler calling him “the Panthers’ next breakout star,” and newly acquired cornerback Captain Munnerlyn calling Bradberry “the real deal.” Daryl Worley, a third round pick out of West Virginia, turned the corner at the end of the season, playing well late and breaking up five passes in his final six games. The secondary should get a boost this year with the additions of Munnerlyn, who played for the Panthers from 2009-13 but spent the past three seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, and Mike Adams, a two-time Pro Bowl safety with the Indianapolis Colts in 2014 and 2015.
The NFC South might be the best division in the NFL with regards to the quarterback position. The New Orleans Saints are led by a quarterback in Drew Brees that is a lock to make the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, has thrown more 5,000-yard seasons than every other quarterback in league history combined, has led the league in passing yards in each of the past three seasons and in five of the past six seasons, and only sits behind Peyton Manning and Brett Favre in league history in career passing yards. The Atlanta Falcons are led by the reigning MVP Matt Ryan, a quarterback that has thrown for over 4,500 yards in each of the past five seasons, and, this season, will likely become the 19th quarterback in league history to throw for 40,000 career passing yards. And, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are led by Jameis Winston, the number one pick in the 2015 NFL Draft who is on pace to be the greatest quarterback in franchise history before his rookie contract is up.
With the strength at the quarterback position in this division and with the tendencies of every team in the division to throw the ball, it is imperative that the Panthers can get quality play out of their secondary, which was less than impressive last season. If the Panthers can turn it around in the secondary in 2017, then they can make a push for the postseason. If not, then it will be another frustrating season defensively in the Queen City.
