Analysis: The Panthers’ offseason must involve an overhaul of this key position group
The Panthers were facing fourth-and-10 with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, trailing 26-14, when Falcons linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. blew past left tackle Cameron Erving and sacked quarterback Cam Newton.
After the play was over, Erving threw his hands up in the air, as if confused, and looked at left guard Dennis Daley.
Erving later took blame for the sack and called it a miscommunication issue. He said he thought he was getting help on the play.
That play, and others from the Panthers’ 29-21 loss, help illustrate how bad their offensive line has been this season.
They also help illustrate why the Panthers are 5-8 and are trending toward for their fourth consecutive losing season.
“Not good enough,” Erving said when asked how he thought the offensive line played. “Clearly. Not good enough. We’ve got to be able to run the ball more efficiently, we’ve got to be able to pass it when we need to.
“Any time you lose, you’re not going to feel like you did enough. We had some good plays, some bad plays, but it’s got to be a lot better.”
If there’s been one constant this season, it’s how inconsistent the offensive line has been, and how it has led to other issues, like bad quarterback play.
Part of that can be attributed to injuries. The Panthers’ offensive line has been liked a game of musical chairs. They entered the game with their ninth different starting offensive line combination in 13 games.
The Panthers were without starting guards Michael Jordan and John Miller, who are both injured. And Erving was making his return to the starting lineup for the first time in four weeks after dealing with a calf injury.
But another reason for the inconsistent line play is that the Panthers don’t have the talent level to keep up with other teams. Erving was a quality backup at best when he signed with the Panthers last offseason.
Daley, who the Panthers drafted in the sixth round in 2019, has arguably been the Panthers’ worst offensive lineman this season. Rookie Brady Christensen, who made his third start of the season, started in his third different position, at right guard.
And Pat Elflein, who the Panthers signed to be a guard, is having to play center because Matt Paradis suffered a season-ending ACL injury earlier this year.
While the Panthers allowed only one sack and four quarterback hits against a Falcons — team that has struggled to generate any pass rush this season — they made a number of mistakes in the second half that prevented the Panthers from making a comeback.
Just 40 seconds before Erving’s missed block, Daley also missed a block. It was second-and-8 and the Panthers were running a quarterback designed run with Newton. Daley was supposed to pull from the left guard spot, and be the lead blocker for Newton.
But he pulled too late and Fowler tackled Newton two yards behind the line of scrimmage before Daley could get hands on him.
“I felt like we came out, we played as a team, we tried to get the job done,” Daley said.
And Elflein stepped on Newton’s foot late in the third quarter, causing him to trip as he tried to hand the football to Chuba Hubbard. Newton fumbled the exchange as he fell to the ground, and the Falcons recovered near midfield.
Since Matt Rhule arrived, his focus has primarily been on fixing the defense, and the Panthers have almost done that.
Now, the Panthers must fix the offense. The current iteration of their offensive line is not working out, and the fix begins with drafting an offensive lineman in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft.
Hindsight being what it is, the Panthers could have been one step closer to solving this issue had they chosen Rashawn Slater at No. 8 overall instead of Jaycee Horn, who played in only two full games before suffering a season-ending foot injury in Week 3.
At the time, though, the Panthers thought Slater’s future was at guard, and the Panthers were not willing to invest a top-10 pick in a guard. It was a missed evaluation; Slater is having a Pro Bowl-caliber year for Detroit.
This year, the Panthers currently have one first-round pick, but don’t have second- or third-round picks — they traded their second rounder away for quarterback Sam Darnold, who has been a disaster, and gave away their third round pick in a deal for C.J. Henderson, who was burned a couple of times against the Falcons and was benched.
But as they continue to lose, they’ve left themselves with no choice: Offensive line has to be addressed this offseason, in both the draft and in free agency.
