Hello CSR! Welcome to Brian Answers, part two of your weekly Panthers fan mailbag for everyone! After a rough outing against the Bills, things have not been so fun in Panthers-land. But you all still came out with all your questions, let’s dive right into some answers!!
JakeNCVA: Is the Panthers’ success rate on plays from an empty set terrible or does it just seem that way?
I do think from the eye test standpoint, those plays tend to work out a lot less than they end up as negatives. I understand the idea of spreading the defense out and exploiting matchups that way, but I do find it frustrating that they do this so often on 3rd/4th and short downs. So I’m with you there.
KeepPounding88: How would you rank our biggest positions of need? It feels like we have some solid talent, but then when things go wrong, everyone sucks and it’s hard to pinpoint the actual problem.
I think the biggest positions of need at the moment are inside linebacker, EDGE, OL (if they didn’t continue to get massacred by injuries I’d feel differently), and possibly QB depending on your mileage with Bryce Young. That was in no particular order for quarterback as I think that all depends on the observer. I think this team needs one more draft of just adding solid talent across the board for things to look a bit more cohesive consistently regardless of the plan at quarterback.
Bruce Guild: It was clear that Andy is not what he once was and struggling would not describe what he was experiencing. It was easy to see he just is not cabable to play at this level.
My question to you is why wasn’t he pulled for his sake and the teams sake? Is HH this woefully unprepared that he wouldn’t be capable of running the offense or unable to perform at a level expected of a NFL backup quaterback which clearly Andy was not doing?
I don’t think Hendon Hooker was ever brought in as more than a speculative add that would only play if Bryce Young and Andy Dalton are both injured, which at that point the season’s likely lost anyway. I do think the fact that they stuck with Dalton and didn’t bring in any meaningful competition for at least the QB2 spot is something you can definitely blame the coaching staff for. Dalton was already showing decline last season after an extended stretch of starts. With Andy Dalton apparently having suffered a broken thumb, its possible we’ll see Hooker or Mike White out there should Bryce Young get injured again or see his ankle go in a negative direction, so maybe you’ll get to see what Hooker looks like as a starter at some point after all.
Chef: Is it really fair to complain about DC concerning Chuba/Rico? I, for one, want a leader that’s willing to back his guys. Coaches ask so much from team leaders so I like the loyalty. There’s a lot more to coaching than what happens on Sundays. Ultimately, this philosophy didn’t cost us anything as far as W/L go so I think calling it a failed experiment is a bit much. We’re gonna ride Rico from here on out, and he’s well rested, that feels like a win. Can everybody move on?
I think it made sense to continue mixing Chuba Hubbard into the offense after coming back from injury. Why it was a 50/50 split against the Jets and an even more favoring workload for Chuba last week I’m not sure. But hopefully either the team will run with the hot hand, or at least stop the alternating drives thing until Rico Dowdle slows down a bit. Chuba could also still be getting back into form, but I do understand why fans questioned his usage over the last couple of weeks. I’d still like to see Chuba get a healthy amount of touches, but leaning on Dowdle has been the most effective strategy all season on offense.
Old Dominion Panther: Hey, Brian! I know that we’re only at the halfway mark of the 2025 season. But, I want to look ahead to forecast the 2026 offseason. While key decisions will have to be made (Ickey extension, BY 5th year option, etc.), I want to focus specifically on potential cap casualties.
In this regard, I don’t see the Panthers shaking things up too much in 2026. This feels more of a stay the course/take your medicine type of offseason. But, by 2027, if it’s deemed necessary, the Panthers would at least be in a better position to undergo a hard roster reset. But, going back to 2026, there are a handful of potential cap casualties where the cap savings exceed the dead money: A’Shawn Robinson, Mike Jackson, Tommy Tremble, Bobby Brown III, and Damien Lewis. Do you see anyone out of this list who won’t make it to the 2026 season? Also, do you see any potential cap casualties that are not on this list? Thanks!
I think you pretty much hit on every name I would have thrown up, per Spotrac’s 2026 financial summary. Based on Damien Lewis’s performance this season, I’d be very shocked if they moved on from him. I could see Bobby Brown getting cut if Cam Jackson steps up, but so far I’ve been happy with Brown’s play when he’s getting in the game. Mike Jackson’s still been extremely solid opposite Jaycee Horn, so cutting him to save what appears to be about $4 mil in cap space doesn’t seem prudent either. The Panthers seem to be in pretty solid financial standing going into next season.
ericbuck: You can replace any current Panthers player with one from the past. The catch is, they both have to have the same jersey number.
So, if you want Brenton Bersin you would have to give up Nic Scourton. if no player currently has the number, you cannot pick the Panthers legend.
I’d swap out Brycen Tremayne for Muhsin Muhammad in a heartbeat (and that’s no slight on Brycen) for the offense. He’d add more of that run blocking aggressiveness that would help this team, with an absolutely solid receiving pedigree to boot. On defense, let’s go with Jon Beason, swapping out for new Panthers OLB Trevis Gipson.
And for your Brian special of players very dear to my heart, let’s go with prime Charles Godfrey over Chuba Hubbard. He’d absolutely add that over the top speed safety. Or Mike Minter, if you want to shatter my hopes and dreams.
SwampPanther: Q: I don’t have the chart thingy that shows run direction and length of run so going off of memory here.
Seemed as though the Bills figured out that the key to defeating the Panthers amazing run defense is to run wide avoiding the hog mollies up front. Granted, they have a great RB and a QB who’s a threat to run at any time so that adds some nuance but we sure looked vulnerable to the run outside the hash marks. Can we expect that the rest of the year from offenses?
Shifty Fish and Dcangio09 answered the question probably better than I could have, so go read their responses. But to summarize, the Bills leaned on their heavier personnel (tight ends, full back) to give them added leverage in the run game. I think other offenses will try to replicate it, but not many offenses really run with multiple tight ends and a full back anymore. At least, not with the conviction the Bills were and have been able to. That’s the funny thing about the NFL; everything is cyclical. After the NFL got away from being run heavy for the most part, and building their teams around both passing the ball and defending against it, the most successful teams right now seem to have a heavy power rushing attack. But to your point, the Bills just put a lot of good film out there on how to soundly beat this defense. And it’ll be up to Ejiro Evero to adjust to it.
Panthers75: What’s this teams identity? Do they even know and if they do why arent they doubling down? I think we all have seen what works ans works well for this team and its malpractice to not do it until it gets stopped.
For every game the team seems to have “found” its identity, they put up a performance like last week that makes us doubt they know what it is. This team is built in theory around running the football between the tackles and piggy backing the passing game off of it, with some unique wrinkles sprinkled in. When they get the tight ends involved in the passing game while running the ball a bit, good things happen. This would be the week to double down, as that Packers pass rush is really darn good even without loading the box a whole lot.
Carolinamaybenextyears: I would love to see the Panthers bring in a battering ram of a full back and embrace that position again like in the past. If you want to be a running team, be a power running team! Both Super Bowl years we had above average at the position, Hoover and Tolbert. Thoughts?
The position seems to be making a comeback in the NFL, so I wouldn’t be opposed to it. They do have tight ends on the roster who can function in this role, but it doesn’t seem to have much of a place in Dave Canales’s offense aside from a creative wrinkle or mixed in here and there.
Mozzie11: Unless you have an elite qb, you are generally on the outside looking in. When you are doing basically the same thing as the best teams but with lesser talent, there is little chance for real success. I think one of things BB did with the Patriots was to pivot his personnel to go against the flow of what other teams were built for.
Along those lines, what would the best alternate team building be to minimize having an avg qb (maybe generous with our current situation) and maximize our team against the established flow of the league.
I go through this exercise occasionally when I am board of doing something productive and wondering what others think.
I think the best thing you can do is actually what the Panthers have attempted to do throughout the last couple of offseasons, which is build the trenches. The job is incomplete, and the Panthers need to continue to throw resources at it. Not just bring in inside linebackers, bring in more EDGE guys. On the offensive line, I’m generally happy with the moves they’ve made, but unfortunately the injuries have just been terrible this season.
So I think in general for this iteration of the Panthers, they just need to bring in good players (WILD theory, but bear with me). Continue to build depth, even if the need isn’t perceived as pressing. They’ve done a pretty good job with that at running back and along the interior Defensive line. But continuing to use resources to build up the trenches is my pick. Couldn’t hurt to add more wide receivers either.
ALLSTATSANDNOPLAY: Sometimes I wonder if I have some sort of disorder.
Because it actually really bothers me how these articles are titled.“Brian Asks:” and then it is NOT followed by a question.
Brian Asks: Well that was rough.
And then my brain screams, “That’s not a freakin’ question !!”
I mean, I get that “Brian Asks” is the name of a reoccurring article.But, I really need it to be followed by a question. Please tell me I am not alone.
I generally try to have a unique headline for each week, but I am certainly open to suggestions. Ask Brian is a good suggestion, what else do you guys think?
Thanks for all the questions this week, and enjoy Sunday!