Panthers’ post-free agency offensive line depth chart still has a big question mark

In the wake of injuries to Ryan Kalil and Gino Gradkowski last season, Carolina Panthers offensive lineman Chris Scott was forced to play center in the Thursday night game against New Orleans last season.

He did not fare well.

But Scott is a versatile lineman who can play both guard positions and knows Carolina’s systems, which is why the Panthers re-signed him to a one-year contract Monday.

Scott is the ultimate year-by-year – if not game-by-game – player for the Panthers. This is the fifth consecutive one-year contract for the former Tennessee Vol.

There’s no guarantee Scott makes the team out of training camp. General manager Dave Gettleman has added some depth up front this offseason to try to avoid the so-called position catastrophes that occurred at center and tackle in 2016.

And given the Panthers’ hopeful but still uncertain stance with Michael Oher, Gettleman still needs to add at least one more tackle through free agency and/or the draft. (It better not be at No. 8 given the lack of top-end tackles.)

With the first wave of free agency in the books, a look at the Panthers’ projected depth chart (and we’ll take the optimistic view on Oher) along the offensive line as of mid-March:

Left tackle

Matt Kalil

Draft choice or free agency acquisition

Left guard

Andrew Norwell

Amini Silatolu

Center

Ryan Kalil

Gino Gradkowski

Tyler Larsen

Right guard

Trai Turner

Chris Scott

Right tackle

Michael Oher

Daryl Williams

This story was originally published March 13, 2017 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Panthers’ post-free agency offensive line depth chart still has a big question mark."