The Carolina Panthers still have some questions about the roster
Chris The schedule finally drops
The schedule finally drops
We are we've known the opponents for months but we
actually figure out dates and times
We'll know that now
We have to have the big pomp and circumstance and
all the good stuff but honestly I don't care
I just hope that whenever whoever whenever the Panthers just
show up on the field
That's it
And hopefully they don't have to play the weekend of
my wedding
That's all I ask
That's all I ask
But that is a point
When the season rolls around what's the strongest part of
the team What's the weak link still on this Panthers
roster We'll break it down
Let's get the sucker started
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Here are your hosts Dennis Cox and Chris Lee
Welcome back to another episode of Panthers Playbook
That's Chris Lee
Dennis Cox here with you
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What do you think is the strength of the team
right now What do you think is the weak link
of the team right now Let us know
But real quick on that shout out to Wake Orthopedics
Chris just real quick
I uh injured my I I I play men's league
hockey
Ice hockey
I injured my foot this past Sunday
Yeah like oh like oh you know what like I
don't think it's a fracture but you know it's feeling
pretty painful
You know where I went to Went to Wake Orthopedics
took care of me
I mean
It's it's an ortho problem
You go to the to the experts
They're taking care of you
It's it's all good you know what I'm saying Give
you a little little PT for the foot
Feeling good
Guess who gets to play in their next hockey game
This guy
This guy this guy me by the way I finished
that game on Sunday
Tough guy stuff like that
You're you're you're the man
I get and I don't know something like that
How many goals have you scored this year Well the
new season actually just started this past this past game
So the game before that I scored twice but hold
on sorry to be off topic
Is that an Asha shirt It is actually
Oh OK
Asha wrestling
Yeah here we go
May 23rd in Charlotte
I know someone that's gonna be there
Maybe a Carolina Panther will show up
I don't know Chris because like you said it's down
there in Charlotte
We've just had rookie minicamp take place
And it seems like Chris pretty much this the the
roster at least what we know is is mostly set
Now there's gonna be some competition for a few different
spots wide receiver might be some offensive line depth at
off-ball linebacker some things along those lines
But it feels like this roster for the most part
We could probably confidently say about 47 48 guys are
pretty well entrenched unless something happens you know an unfortunate
injury there's potential for trade those kinds of things
But as we look at the the the units as
a whole right now Chris in your opinion what do
you feel like is the strongest deepest group on this
Panthers roster Strongest and deepest
Um I I think when I I was thinking about
this as far as strongest and also the weakest uh
group
The the main criteria in mind for me was more
so like Can you afford to have um you know
an injury to one of your top players and still
you know kind of keep moving and um you know
what is the depth situation kind of looking like there
and so when just looking at it the way that
it's set up right now honestly
Offensive line and defensive line are are like the strongest
that I have to pick between one
It is probably uh offensive line
Um I would have I would have tried to throw
in a wide receiver there but it's one of those
situations where I'm unsure if Tederoy McMillan gets hurt what
the rest of that crew looks like right Because Chris
Brazil is you know still has to prove himself in
the NFL
What is XL gonna do What is uh Jalen Coker
gonna do if those guys are like 1 and 2
you know what I'm saying Like how does how does
that look So what does Coker look like if he
has to be a number 1 receiver drawing all the
attention Yeah because he hasn't been in that situation before
We just simply don't know if Taylor Moten goes down
well we know we have Monroe Freeling
That's it
And you know if Luke Fortner goes down well you
know that's why we have uh Sam uh um Sam
Heck hecked
I was gonna call him uh connect like Dalton connect
I've been thinking about basketball right now
Um and so you know it's I I feel like
all over the offensive line you have answers
Uh if uh if somebody were to to go down
and you know it's not as deep on the defensive
line but I feel like you have some answers on
the defensive line as well
I wouldn't want
Um you know Derrek Brown to go down but I
do feel as if uh there's some answers down uh
there if he were to go down
Uh so strongest to me is offensive line and I
love that for Bryce Young for sure
Yeah I mean that's a beneficial thing for him because
we we saw last year the depth of the offensive
line paid off because we saw the rotating cast
Yeah I saw a rotating cast of people but at
least those guys together last year they they brought back
their top nine offensive linemen from 2024 into 2025
So there was continuity already there but now that's not
gonna be the case necessarily this year but you added
Rasheed Walker
You like you said drafted Monroe Freling you drafted Sam
Hecht
You have 4 starters coming back from last season and
you never know what Ikey Akwandu might potentially bring for
you this season
I think if he plays any this season and contributes
it's a it's a bonus to the offensive line coming
off just that patellar tendon injury
We'll see what you know potentially he could provide but
I I again I'm not anticipating much of anything at
all but it's a pretty solid answer in in in
offensive line
I think it's pretty good
I I was leaning towards
It's like is it edge rusher for me For strongest
for strongest because he brought in Jalen Phillips
It's up there for sure
You have Nick Skorton who I think is a very
very very much a growing player like a developing player
and he got stronger as the season went along especially
the more snaps that he got during the course of
the season
He's kind of got better and better and better and
I think he's gonna be a great compliment to what
Jalen Phillips can provide
I still think there's high ups
Side with Princely Umami Ellen and let's not forget about
Pat Jones either and what he could potentially provide against
So like that's 4 really solid guys playing at 2
spots
And then obviously there's some depth guys like Travis Gibson
Thomas and Coomb that can play on special teams and
so forth
So I I was leaning towards that possibly
But then I went back to the wide receiver group
and I was like I I don't know like I
was contemplating between the two because those 4 guys I
mentioned for outside linebacker was was a solid group that
you know is gonna be intact
So that's the reason why I was leaning towards them
as opposed to wide receiver though I feel pretty confident
in the wide receiver group but I just don't know
which ones are gonna be there
Because of the competition at the position which actually if
I'm talking through it right now maybe it is wide
receiver because there is a solid group of 8 guys
that you're not going to be able to keep all
of them
So that might be the strongest position group on the
team
So I was leaning towards one or the other
So if I had to pick one on either side
of the ball I would actually probably go edge rusher
is the strongest group
And on the offensive side of the ball I'll probably
actually go to the wide receiver room because you have
a number #1 a true number 1 in Terrola McMillan
Jalen Coker is a I think He has to stay
healthy
That's something that he has to has to do because
the last couple of seasons there's only 2 seasons in
the NFL
He has dealt with injury but we know and see
the potential of what he could become when he's on
the field healthy and strong
Then you added Brazil and Mechi and then there's Leege
Jimmy Horn
That's 6 guys right there before you even get to
David Moore and Bryson Tremaine and what those guys can
do in terms of their depth with special teams and
so forth
So if I had to go to the offensive side
of the ball I'll have to go with the wide
receiver group
And on defense I lean towards that edge rusher
I I just like the the core group of those
four guys that edge rusher on defense Chris
Yeah I I I'm with you
Um edge rusher is definitely deep
Um I wanted to say um wide receiver because there
is a wealth of guys like this is probably I
I've said this before the the best collection of wide
receiver talent I think the Panthers have ever had
Uh for sure it's just that the the main thing
I thought about is like if the top person gets
injured what does that group look like and you know
and I think we saw a little bit of that
last year because you know we get you know Icky
got injured uh we we saw um you know Taylor
Moten get injured we saw Robert Hunt get injured and
the offensive line still was one of the best in
the NFL
Um you know at least you know in the top
third of the NFL uh last year and so it's
just I I wanted to say wide receiver and I
do think that as far as like the the depth
if you say it's you know what's the deepest um
you know for sure like you know it's it's one
of the deepest uh on the team
I I just I I don't know if T Mac
were to go down who's gonna step up to take
his spot
Not saying that there's nobody that can
It's just that that's still a question in my mind
right now but uh I'm 100 I'm I'm with you
though
It's I don't I I don't blame you for saying
what you said for sure
All right let's go each side of the ball
What's this what's what's an area that's still of concern
for you when it comes to for the Panthers Either
side of the ball defense weakest is um linebacker and
that automatically just
Yeah inside linebacker it's it's um the the reason why
I say that is because going with my same criteria
if if Devin Lloyd were to go down you pretty
much have the same crew from last year minus uh
Christian Roseboom um and and so you know what is
what is that going to look like uh for for
the defense and so that's where you know hey if
the Panthers wanna make uh another move and look at
a free agent here or there
Uh I'm not saying that this is the type of
person that's or the person that you have to get
uh but you know hey Bobby Wagner decides to come
in on on a pretty decent deal
He's got some um you know a a little bit
still left in his tank there
I I don't know what the latest is on uh
Shaq Thompson if he's uh been signed anywhere but if
he's still floating out there I'm sure he'd love to
finish his career as a Panther
Uh and I think he looked great next to Devin
Lloyd
He actually will probably benefit him a little bit
Um but you know I I do feel like there
needs to be something else there and and I don't
mean that as a disrespect to Trevon Wallace
I don't mean that as disrespect to Jackson Kulach or
or Claude and Cherless um but I just You don't
have as many sure tacklers or sure playmakers on defense
if Devin Lloyd were to go down at at any
point in this year
So that's that's the part
I I like linebacker because of Devin Lloyd
Outside of that it's like it's it's a lot of
guys there
Yeah I'm with you 100% on that because like you
said they replaced Christian Roseboom with Devin Lloyd
I think it's a massive upgrade
It really is
But we've seen Trevon Wallace deal with shoulder injuries each
of the last couple of years and get hurt and
injured and not finishing seasons and not playing a full
full full year and then it's Claude and Cheerless and
you know everyone else which I like those guys for
for depth and special teams
I I genuinely do backups for sure great backups
But again like who's that guy alongside Devin Lloyd If
he goes down you're literally running it back with the
same group
You're literally running it back with the same group
And that's so I mean there are some guys potentially
out there Chris like for example if you want to
go like you said mentioned Bobby Wagner you know if
you want to go Logan Wilson Devin Bush some of
these other guys Jermaine Pt
That is floating around out there
I mean if you wanted to sign one of those
guys HP in the house I've just bring Jermaine Pratt
North Carolina guy might be able to sign him for
for inexpensive
So I 100% agree with you in regards to that
that off-ball linebacker group Chris 100% weakest on offense
Um it's a toss-up between tight end and and running
back but I think I'm going to Give the edge
to tight end
And not to say that I don't like any of
those guys I do
I I like all of those guys actually
Um you know if you look at the tight ends
pretty much there's a chance that 5 could potentially make
the roster for different reasons
Uh Mitchell Evans Felipe Franks Frank's more so for the
special teams that he brings
Maybe James Mitchell he could be the one that that
is on the outside looking in Jatavian Sanders and Tommy
Trimble
Uh Bryce Pierre unless he just has a a crazy
camp
I don't I don't see him uh making it but
um All of those guys kind of are like they
they have different playing styles but as far as their
production kind of the same to me if that makes
sense right So um that's more so what I'm looking
it's not that I don't like what's there it's just
that what's there there's nothing that pops to me
If that makes sense
Um I I really love how violent Tommy Trimble is
when he has the ball in his hands
Like when he does get the ball in his hands
that dude's a playmaker
I feel like uh Mitchell Evans is good in that
short intermediate area and uh becoming better as a blocker
And then of course Latvian Sanders sometimes can give you
uh that long um you know extended play
It's just that we haven't seen that
Uh enough from any of those guys and some of
that may not necessarily be on them
It also could be the offense
So maybe this year we see uh some differences with
uh Brad Idzik being the one calling the plays
Maybe we see uh the the tight end being included
a little bit more uh on the offensive end
But as of right now uh I would say tight
end is probably the weakest group on offense
I went running back because at least with with tight
end is that the way the offense is run at
least what we've seen is that you can interchange any
of those three guys and and nothing really misses a
beat because like you said how sparsely they're used which
again that could possibly change with Brad Idzik
But I'm gonna go running back because you really only
have
Really it's Chuba Hubbard
I mean AJ Dillon I know they signed this offseason
only played seven games last year missed the entire 2024
season as well
He's only played seven games the last two years
I know he's a big bruising guy but he's not
a guy that I expect to like hey let's pick
up 20 yards possibly with this guy on a carry
That's not what you see with him
Same thing with Chuba Hubbard
Chuba Hubbard can turn out some first downs but you
don't see the long explosives on a consistent basis from
Chuba Hubbard
And then With with Trevor Achan
He's a smaller guy but we just haven't seen him
prove it in the NFL yet
And then obviously there's the wild card in in Jonathan
Brooks which we all know what his potential can be
The question is just can he actually reach that With
the knee injuries it's a massive question mark
So to me there are just so many more question
marks at running back than there are at any other
position on offense
And so that's to me why I'm gonna go running
back
It's just that that's the biggest concern for me is
that regard
OK you can give it to Cuba
We'll churn out 4 yards 5 yards 4 yards 5
yards which is good
But you still need to have explosives the way the
NFL is today
You need to have explosives
You need to be able to pick up chunk plays
15 yards 20 yards throughout the course of the game
You can't just have a bunch of 13-play drives to
score touchdowns
Occasionally you need the 4 or 5-play boom I got
a quick I got a I got a 17-yard run
I got a 23 yard pass and all of a
sudden I'm sitting there just outside the red zone
Like the Panthers haven't had that on a consistent basis
So that's the concern for me is that there really
is no There is no true proven threat in terms
of explosive plays in the NFL
Again Chuba could pick up yards
But where is the explosive coming from That's the so
that's the concern for me when it comes to the
running back room
And I I think that point brings up a larger
issue with the Panthers' offense is because uh last year
you knew that you can consistently move the chains with
T Mac um you knew that Jalen Coker would be
there but who was the guy that set them up
It was Rico Dowdell and what he was able to
do for the most part you know there were some
games where Rico uh didn't have the best game but
um
You know it's it's one of those like you know
uh who's gonna be that replacement for uh that potential
explosive uh run or just play in general
Um last year it just kind of felt like You
know Bryce wasn't all the way uh on the same
page with Dave Canales which I think kind of impacted
some of the running some of the uh throwing uh
passing plays I should say um you know and and
the execution of that and how crisp those could have
been
I really am interested in seeing uh what a Brad
Idzik offense and and you know and and his play
calling style is going to look like in a regular
season game
And for a game that that matters for a game
that counts that is um you know the first couple
of weeks of the season is gonna tell us a
lot
Now he's gonna grow throughout the season
He has 17 tries at this at least uh but
the first um the first few games is gonna tell
us a lot as far as what this uh team
could possibly be
And I I was gonna say this too as far
as potential as far as deep
This is the first year
That if Bryce Young were to go down for an
extended amount of time
I'm not as worried now
I think anybody if your starting quarterback goes down you
will be worried
Uh I'm not saying that I will not be worried
but I'm not as worried right because I think Kenny
Pickett can come in there and win you a couple
of games here and there
Um he can be a a a smooth game manager
for you
Um you know in the game he I don't think
he's gonna go out there and win you again
He you can't put it on Kenny Pickett
Hey win us this game
I don't think that's gonna happen
I don't think he's gonna lose you too many games
though
He can manage uh some games and potentially pick up
some wins
Um and then you know who's to say that Haynes
King won't uh you know have some time to develop
and end up you know being decent by the end
of the season if something were to happen to Bryce
Young
Uh so I feel like this is probably um Probably
one of the best quarterback rooms that I remember with
the Panthers since you had uh you know Cam Derek
Anderson and Joe Webb
It's a pretty high bar
That's a pretty high bar
I'm not I'm not saying that they're on the same
level but I'm saying like you know they're not on
the same level but like it's probably the deepest quarterback
room that I've like because even when we had Baker
Mayfield and Sam Darnold I didn't believe in in that
You know what I'm saying
That was and PJ Walker
You can't forget about PJ By the way shout out
PJ Walker who retired
Shout out PJ Walker who had one of the most
beautiful passes I think I've ever seen in a football
game to TJ Moore
Golly that young man just launched that thing
Just make the PAT
It's all we needed to happen in that game
Make the PAT
Well I know it got pushed back
I know it shouldn't have been a
And Should not have been a penalty
We're not here to rehash the old Chris
We're not here to rehash it
We're looking forward looking forward just brought me down a
little bit
But hey schedule release enjoy it
We've known the opponents
We've known the strength of schedule
We've known it
But hey dates and times we're all excited about dates
and times
Be excited
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Again leave your thoughts in the comments
Strongest position group
What do you think the weakest position group is Let
us know Chris
Enjoy this beautiful weather
Feel better good sir
Thank you
Until next time y'all be good