On Thursday, we looked at the Carolina Panthers run defense. While massively improved from the year prior, it still wasn’t all that great. Now the pass defense on the other hand…it also wasn’t that great.
How it went
The Panthers have had a pass rush problem for a long time, and it only got worse after they decided to trade away Brian Burns instead of re-signing him. They finished the season with 30 sacks, tied for the third fewest in the league. It’s the fourth straight season in which they’ve finished the bottom quarter of the league in sack production. Nic Scourton and Derrick Brown tied for the team lead in sacks with five, which is not a sack total that should be leading a team. Safety Tre’von Moehrig tied for second on the team in sacks with three, which says about all you need to know about the team’s pass rush productivity. They were seldom able to generate pressure with four man rushed and were heavily reliant on bringing extra bodies to speed up quarterbacks.
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Fortunately, the back end of the defense was good enough to hold up reasonably well despite the lack of pass rush. Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson were arguably the best cornerback duo in the NFL, combining for nine interceptions in the regular season (Jackson added a tenth in the playoffs). Outside of a couple of rough outings, particularly against the Saints, Horn was able to deter a lot of targets to his side of the field, and less than half were completed. That meant Mike Jackson was peppered with targets, but he held his water. He was targeted 100 times and only allowed a 75.0 passer rating on those targets. Big money signing Moehrig was better in coverage than I think most people assumed. Nick Scott played. There were times that they could be a little frustrating with how much off coverage they played, but on the whole they held up pretty well given what they were playing behind.
The path forward
The secondary is probably one area of the team where the Panthers can feel pretty good about where they’re at. They’d probably prefer a younger upgrade over Nick Scott, but Lathan Ransom could be that guy going into year two. Nickel corner is a little bit of a concern, but Chau Smith-Wade wasn’t egregiously terrible for a second year player.
The real upgrades need to come along the front seven. The linebackers Christian Rozeboom and Trevin Wallace were both very shaky in coverage and neither brought much of anything as a blitzer. Positional importance aside, that position might be the most glaring weakness on the roster heading into the offseason.
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The pass rush needs more juice as well. Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen had moments as rookies, but they didn’t jump off the page. They certainly didn’t do enough to make the Panthers feel like they’re set on the edge. The interior line would probably look better if the edges were able to get more push. In a perfect world, they’d be able to pull someone out of free agency that will be an immediate difference maker, but difference making pass rushers are tough to find in free agency.
I hope and somewhat expect the Panthers to go heavy on the front seven in the draft. An edge rusher or an interior linebacker with blitz ability should be targets in the early rounds.