April 10, 2019 4:54 AM EEST
4th and Short Podcast: The Panthers won the war but lost the injury battle Brian
Blue Shaq Thompson Jersey , Brad, and Jon review the Panthers week one victory over the Dallas Cowboys. We touch on the injuries to Greg Olsen and Daryl Williams, who we expect to replace them, and how their absences will affect the offense. We talk about what we liked most about the defense’s strong performance, with the pass rush being the spotlight. We share our thoughts on Norv Turner’s offense, how it differed from Mike Shula, and how the Panthers still found a way to turtle up with the ball late in the game. I was having some connection issues during the recording, so apologies if there are any choppy parts. I tried to cut out places where the connection messed things up, but a couple spots may have avoided my detection. Join us later in the week as we have two very special guests to help us preview Panthers vs. Falcons. Click here if the embed doesn’t work for you. The Carolina Panthers need a defensive end —really, two defensive ends— more than anything else in 2019. The retirement of Julius Peppers has left the team with only three athletes under contract at the position: Mario Addison, Efe Obada
Shaq Thompson Jersey 2019 , and Marquis Haynes. The rest of the contributors from last season are free agents at present and shouldn’t be considered as top targets for the team given their contributions helped usher Ron Rivera’s once vaunted defense to a 27th place finish for sacks in the league last season.Pass rushers have the ability to make or break a game for a team in a way that is only surpassed by quarterbacks. Because of this, they are one of the most sought after positions in free agency and the draft. The Panthers, with a laundry list of needs and only $18 million in cap space, probably can’t afford to get in the kind of bidding wars it takes to land premier talent. They have to invest in defensive end and they are going to have to do that through the draft.Later today we are going to talk about the odds of hitting on useful defensive end talent through the draft in every round and we are going to talk about current general manager Marty Hurney’s history with drafting defensive end.For now, we are just going to consider how insane it is that the Panthers have such a dearth of talent at such an important position. In 2017, former general manager Dave Gettleman traded up in the third round to draft former Panthers defensive end Daeshon Hall. He had a negligible impact with the team before being released in September of last year. Last year, Hurney traded up in the fourth round to draft undersized defensive end Haynes, who has had a similar impact to Hall in his one season with the team. Obada, while having a great story, doesn’t have a great deal of experience to recommend him yet.The departure of Peppers means that there is neither a past nor a future of the position on the team today. Obada is a gamble and Haynes hasn’t shown enough to warrant any prognostication. The Panthers can’t afford to take mid to late round fliers on possible talents anymore. Addison will turn 32 this season. The Panthers have an immediate need for talent and youth at a position of nearly unparalleled importance for their defense. There is no telling how low the floor is for that entire unit in 2019 if they don’t walk out of the draft with a day one starter at defensive end.