{"id":713318,"date":"2026-01-29T06:12:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/713318\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T06:12:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:12:36","slug":"carolina-panthers-reliable-blocker-named-teams-surprise-contributor-for-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/713318\/","title":{"rendered":"Carolina Panthers’ reliable blocker named team’s \u2018surprise contributor\u2019 for 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a unit, the Carolina Panthers\u2019 offensive line<\/a> didn\u2019t grade out as well in 2025 as it did a season ago,<\/a> according to Pro Football Focus. In 2024, only seven offensive fronts in the league were ranked higher than the Panthers. That number dipped to 20th this season <\/a>as injuries were a major factor.<\/p>\n

Kevin Patra of NFL.com recently came out with all 32 team\u2019s most unsung player. The choice for the NFC South champions was left guard Damien Lewis<\/a>, who started all but one of the team\u2019s 17 regular-season contests for Dave Canales’s team<\/a>, and was in the opening lineup for the playoff clash<\/a> with the Rams.<\/p>\n

\u201cLewis was a clear choice as the unsung hero to single out following the Panthers\u2019 turnaround,\u201d said Patra. \u201cThe sixth-year pro excelled in his second season in Carolina, driving defenders off the ball in the run game. His film is littered with pancakes and opposing linemen being pushed downfield to open holes in the ground game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Damien<\/p>\n

Nov 30, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers guard Damien Lewis (68) looks on after the game against the Los Angeles Rams at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kinser-Imagn Images | Scott Kinser-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cLewis also enjoyed his best season as a pass protector,\u201d added Patra, \u201cgrading in that area of the game as a top-five guard, per Pro Football Focus, <\/a>which credited him with allowing a single sack and just 13 QB pressures on 553 pass-rush snaps over 16 regular-season games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Via PFF, Lewis ranked seventh at his position in his overall performance this season and earned the highest grade by the service (77.7) of his six-year career, topping his 75.5 mark in 2024 during his first season with Carolina. In terms of pass protection, only the Bears\u2019 Joe Thuney (87.8) and the Titans\u2019 Peter Skoronski (84.5) earned a higher mark than Lewis (79.3) this season.<\/p>\n

– Enjoy more free Panthers coverage with Carolina Panthers on SI –<\/p>\n

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Carolina Panthers linked to two-time Super Bowl champion in free agency<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a unit, the Carolina Panthers\u2019 offensive line didn\u2019t grade out as well in 2025 as it did…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-713318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115976912907812910","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}