The Carolina Panthers’ special teams are a bit of a Joe-brainer this season
Change is probably the most popular word this offseason when it comes to the Panthers. Often the new faces and departures on special teams are overlooked. But just as the Panthers rebuilt the defense and brought new leaders on offense, special teams also received a bit of face lift — planned or not.
Long snapper J.J. Jansen remains a constant, entering his 12th season in Carolina. But around him, the team has both chosen (and been forced) to get younger at the specialist positions. There will be a lot of confidence placed in young players this season.
Joey Slye’s job to keep
The Panthers released longtime kicker Graham Gano before training camp even began.
After missing the last four games in 2018 with a left leg injury, Gano, 33, began to experience soreness in his plant leg during training camp last season and was placed on injured reserve in August 2019. He missed the entire season and had left knee surgery in October. The Giants, led by former Panthers GM Dave Gettleman, signed him as their starting kicker soon after he was released.
Gano had two years left on a four-year, $17 million contract he signed in 2018 that included $9 million guaranteed, per Spotrac. He was scheduled to make $2.75 million this season. The Panthers will save money this season with the move, but will add $1.5 million in dead cap over the next two years.
Slye, a cheaper option as well, won the starting job last year in his rookie season due to his preseason performance and Gano’s injury. He hit 25 of 32 field-goal attempts in 2019, including 8 of 11 from 50-plus yards, as an undrafted rookie last season. He also missed four extra-point attempts.
In camp this year, Slye, 24, performed well overall. He had one bad day where he missed 4 of 5 kicks, but other than that was consistent. This season he has an opportunity to prove he deserves the job for the long-term after the Panthers brought him in originally as a temporary injury solution. Working on his mental game and getting back to the basics were key parts to his offseason.
“If I can get my subconscious and conscious mind to work together, then game situations no matter what the pressure of anything is, you kind of get into the same state every single time,” Slye said. “Just continuing being able to recall things, systems that happen and understand every little piece of it.”
Hello, Joe
The Panthers are starting an undrafted rookie punter, former Gamecock Joe Charlton. Charlton, 23, won the starting job over kicker/punter Kaarve Vedvik, who the team brought in for competition and has kept on the practice squad. Keeping Vedvik maintains competition in practices and gives the Panthers an option if COVID-19 became an issue with either Slye or Charlton.
Charlton, who will also be holding for Slye and has experience holding from college, was not signed by a team after the NFL draft, but got a call from general manager Marty Hurney, who was impressed by what he saw from his big leg in a South Carolina game last fall.
Finding a new punter became a necessity when punter Michael Palardy suffered an ACL injury to his plant leg while training before camp. The hope was that he could play on the injury, but he needed surgery that ended his season.
Charlton, 6-foot-5 and 190 pounds, made history with the Gamecocks. His career average of 45.5 yards per punt is a school record and he also owns the top two single-season punting marks, setting the record in 2018 with a 44.8-yard average. He surpassed that last year by nearly three yards per punt (47.7).
He had some shaky moments in camp. With no preseason, it will be interesting to see how he and the rest of the special teams unit performs in a live NFL game.
Return game
Yes, Christian McCaffrey always practices as a returner. No, don’t expect to see him out there often, if ever. The kick- and punt-return jobs have been awarded to wide receiver Pharoh Cooper. The Panthers were searching for an answer at returner after going through a variety of options in 2019.
Cooper, a North Carolina native and another former Gamecock, had his best season in 2017 with the Rams. He was named a Pro Bowler that year and had his only career kick-return touchdown and averaged 27.4 yards per return.
Over the past two seasons, Cooper has bounced around to the Cardinals and Bengals, and dealt with injuries, including an ankle injury suffered Week 1 of 2018 that required surgery. Now he has an opportunity to prove he can be a game-changing returner again.
