Panthers Camp preview

Panthers camp preview
By Matt Williamson
Scouts Inc.
(Archive)
Updated: July 20, 2007

Carolina Panthers training camp
Site: Wofford College
Location: Spartanburg, S.C.
First practice: July 28
2006 Record: 8-8

Expanded NFL training camp coverage

Three Burning Questions


1. Is John Fox on the hot seat?
Probably, but he really doesn't deserve to be. For some reason, it was overlooked that Carolina had to play most of the 2006 season without its starting center and left tackle; that is a lot to overcome. Injuries took their toll last year, and several good players on this team played well under their usual level. Last season certainly did not help Fox's résumé, but he is a fine coach who would get snatched up very quickly if relieved of his duties in Carolina.


2. Does the Panthers' offense have a viable weapon beyond Steve Smith?
Not really. Drew Carter is tall with great speed. He will make some big plays by simply running past single coverage, but he still has a long way to go with the finer points of the position. Dwayne Jarrett isn't really quick or explosive and is likely to struggle initially getting off the line of scrimmage against press coverage at this level. Michael Gaines has more talent than many realize, but he never will be a dynamic weapon or downfield threat from his tight end spot. DeShaun Foster can be a factor catching the ball out of the backfield, but there is a good chance he will be a part-time player. In limited snaps last year, second-year RB DeAngelo Williams showed that he can be a difference-maker. He has a fine blend of quickness, competitiveness and balance. He runs low and has some power. Smith is a superstar and certainly one of the very best players at his position, but this team needs more around him. If Williams continues to develop, he'll be able to take some attention away from Smith.

3. Is Carolina a contender?
The NFC is clearly the weaker conference, and yes, Carolina is certainly a playoff contender. The Panthers could give the Saints a run for their money in the NFC South. But this doesn't look like a Super Bowl team. There are just too many holes and questions. The defense is aging, the overall durability is questionable, the quarterback situation isn't very stable and the offense just doesn't have enough weapons.



The player under the microscope

QB Jake Delhomme. Delhomme is not capable of putting an offense on his back, and he tried to do just that too often last season after the running game failed. When he presses, Delhomme takes too many risks and brings a gunslinger mentality -- but really doesn't have the physical gifts to pull off such an approach. When the defense is playing well and the running game is clicking, Delhomme can be very effective with play-action and deep throws to Smith, but he cannot afford to turn the ball over and has to play more within himself. He doesn't feel the rush very well and didn't step up when the chips were down. David Carr is looming behind him on the depth chart, and Fox might be quick to make a change if Delhomme struggles early in the season.

Breakout Player

OLB Thomas Davis. Davis was a safety at the University of Georgia, bounced between safety and outside linebacker during his rookie year, then moved to linebacker full time last year. He now has ample experience at the position and should be able to maximize his vast potential. Davis is a heat-seeking missile who is an absolute blowup hitter. He runs very well and brings a lot of versatility to the defense. He will play man coverage against tight ends and running backs, blitz with more regularity this season, and still cover a lot of ground with his zone responsibilities. Davis could be primed for a monster season, especially if Dan Morgan can return to the lineup at middle linebacker.


Comeback player of the year

Morgan. The Panthers certainly have several candidates for this distinction, but Morgan is the most logical choice. When healthy, which is rare, he is a game-changing playmaker from his middle linebacker spot. Morgan is a key player in this defense. He isn't a great take-on player, but Carolina has spent a lot of its resources on big defensive tackles to allow Morgan to run more freely and make plays. His strengths are quickly diagnosing plays, reacting decisively and running to the ball. He is very fast and gets to his target with aggression, but he simply cannot stay healthy and most recently has battled problems with concussions. If Morgan can return to form, this defense will be much better than a year ago.


Offensive philosophy

The Panthers put too much pressure on Delhomme last season because they were ineffective running the football. This was partially because of being without their starting left tackle and center for much of the season. Jeff Davidson was hired as offensive coordinator, mostly to restore Carolina's ability to control the game on the ground. Davidson will switch to a zone-blocking scheme. This move could be an excellent decision and it suits Carolina's personnel very well, but there surely will be some growing pains early on. Davidson also will put star Smith in motion more often and use him in a variety of ways in an attempt to get him into more one-on-one situations. Although that sounds good on paper, Smith is the only receiver on the roster who frightens defenses and every team the Panthers face surely will concoct a game plan to stop Smith.


Defensive philosophy

Great things were expected from Carolina's defense one year ago, but those expectations were not met. There were injuries and substandard play across the defense, but the biggest culprit might have been that the offense didn't do the defense any favors. The offense simply punted far too often. Although it is getting up in age, this is still a talented group led by Julius Peppers, one of the best defensive players in the game today. The Panthers rely on their upfield scheme to generate pressure, but they need to get more from their defensive linemen other than Peppers to make this work. To help generate pressure this year, expect more linebacker blitzes, particularly from Davis. Stopping the run is priority No. 1 and Carolina needs to be stouter up the middle, but this unit still has a chance to be one of the better groups in the league.


Camp battle to watch
DeShaun Foster vs. DeAngelo Williams
There are several prominent training camp battles for the Panthers this year, but the one at running back could be the most competitive. Foster and Williams both should benefit from Carolina's philosophical change to a one-cut, zone-blocking rushing attack, but Williams is the one who should benefit the most. Williams came from a similar scheme at the University of Memphis and has the skill set, vision, decisiveness and low pad level to really excel under the new philosophy. Both players are talented, but Williams should emerge as the primary ball carrier while Foster becomes a very good third-down back.

Fantasy take
DeShaun Foster led the team in rushing yards last season, but DeAngelo Williams should be the eventual starter. Don't look for an official changing of the guard before the season starts, but do check how much attention Williams gets in camp because it could influence your decision to select Williams over Foster.
-- Eric Karabell
• Complete ESPN.com fantasy coverage Breakout player

Matt Williamson was a scout for the Cleveland Browns in 2004. Previously, he was director of football operations at Akron and spent three years as a recruiting assistant at Pittsburgh.

 

I know from personal experience how difficult it can be to differentiate between what seems logical and what familiarity with a coaching staff tells you will happen. Someone who doesn't follow the Panthers closely wouldn't realize that the above quote has about a 1% chance of happening. Fox will rely on Foster, and I can't really say that I disagree with that. DeAngelo will undoubtedly see more carries, but Foster will remain the primary ball carrier.

 

You may be right but it is a bit frustrating to see us draft a running back in the first round, one who was considered a steal where we got him, and then not make him the primary back. He certainly has more upside than Foster.

 

I'm DeAngelo's biggest fan, and I've called for us to get rid of DeShaun's contract for years, but I was genuinely impressed with the way he played last year. Williams is certainly more explosive, but Foster hasn't really done anything yet to lose the starting job, and we all know how reluctant Fox is to change anything.

 

Foster wasn't exactly a late round pick.

Ideally, I don't think you should ever allow things like draft position and contract size enter into how you set your depth chart. It should be determined purely from on-field performance.

Realistically, it enters into the thinking somewhere. How much? Who can say?

 

It is Foster's job to lose. Unless he is injured or really tanks it in the pre-season he'll be the starter.

 

I have no idea why he would be. His overall record after five years is very good, including playoffs or not, and only a handful of teams have gone as far as we have in that time, much less twice. He's not had two great years on a row - few do - but he's not had two bad ones in a row. You can kinda feel like, in the bad ones, he takes a little too long to right the ship on what could still be a playoff season, but a few of those seasons could've been disasters and still weren't. If 2004 had been a 4-12 year, or last year, I could see it. If next year is, I could see it. Otherwise, I don't see Fox getting the boot that soon and have no idea why he keeps getting this "hot seat" mention.

Depends on how far you'd have to go to say "viable." Of course, this offense thrived with role players and one star before - when the offense was predicated on being predictable and feeding that player. A more even distribution outside of the #1 guy should benefit all.

Both are probably true. I worry about our veteran presence at WR and our experience of what's remaining. Both of these guys are good enough to be role players right now, though, and we can work with that.

I never bought the Pats WRs as explosive players, so I have no way of not seeing Jarrett being productive if pushed into the role.

Foster did earn the right to continue to start. I figured this would happen anyway - Foster being considered the #1 - but luckily he's earned it. Regardless of the start or the end result, both will be used, and hopefully liberally. I do believe both Foster and Williams are pass threats, and honestly they're interchangeable right now. If and when Williams earns it, it'll be as a 1200+ yard level back. And when that happens, he won't have an extra 400 carries on him just because of impatience.

I think what happens to Davis is on Davis; I feel like we can put together enough up front and next to him that the lack of Morgan won't be an excuse. Draft was enough for Davis to have some great games and some awful games, but if Beason's there, he's probably better at gap control than either of last year's theoretical MLBs.

He should, but he'll also have some off games. I don't know if Davis is going to be a 150 tackle beast, though he did pull almost 100 despite missing some games (and a very impressive 11 QB pressures, tied for 4th best on the team).

I'd love to see it, for the money and for the fact we'd have Beason blowing things up weakside. But I think Beason may just end up being either hampered by moving around or

I also think it's weird that, besides having Anderson apparently miscast at SLB behind Davis, we could very well have a stiff, 240 lb veteran at WLB next to two young rocket-powered undersized LBs. I stand on the idea of Davis where he is, because he's a special player and felt he fit that side of the ball despite most traditional logic, but Anderson was awful at SLB. I'm not suggesting that Diggs is a better fit elsewhere because he's simply not explosive, and he'll be good depth overall. If Morgan goes down, he'll be the guy off the bench on the first two downs. It really wasn't a bad signing, and any time you can replace a guy and resign that guy at the same time, it's not a bad thing if you keep losing 2 of your 4 top tacklers every year.

I could see Davis blitzing more. He really was more effective, even though he had less sacks than Draft. But the three-corner thing will have to be be big, and underneath coverage big, because we'll all but have to play C4 theory if our safeties get any worse.

Disagree.
It won't be Delhomme v/s Carr, either.
C and RG will be what determines how good this team is, since the S battle won't be fruitful regardless.

 

Davis is clearly playing out of position at SLB, but I agree that Anderson is even more of a misfit there.

 

Meanwhile Derrick Johnson is getting better and better in KC

 

I don't believe so with Davis, but I'm not seeing the TE lockon that I expected and that was something I was looking for. I still like him at SLB, and like our team speed at LB, but if next year Beason was MLB and Davis was WLB, I'd be just as fine with that. That they tried Davis at SLB was probably more than I really even expected when I first considered it.

Ehh, I don't see it. Plus, while it's not a reflection directly on Johnson as much as their run D as a whole including Kendrell Bell, they did just put a lot of money into Donnie Edwards despite having just put a 1 into Johnson and a ton of money into Bell.

Plus, Davis had 30 more tackles, with one more game played. Johnson's tackles would've amounted to 9th best on the team, behind two of the three corners that started this year.