{"id":812566,"date":"2026-03-14T21:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T21:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/812566\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T21:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T21:24:17","slug":"with-rasheed-walker-signed-to-end-a-busy-week-panthers-created-stability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/812566\/","title":{"rendered":"With Rasheed Walker signed to end a busy week, Panthers created stability"},"content":{"rendered":"

One, he gives them insurance against the condition of incumbent left tackle Ikem Ekwonu<\/a>, who is coming back from a torn patellar tendon in the wild card game against the Rams, and whose prognosis for the coming season remains unclear. (Though he was walking around without crutches or a brace<\/a>, well enough to greet new teammate Jaelan Phillips<\/a> the other day.)<\/p>\n

But he also gives them a whole lineup.<\/p>\n

The Panthers now have a projected starting offensive line that includes at least 385 NFL starts \u2014 the kind of security that quarterback Bryce Young<\/a> will appreciate. So even if you take Ekwonu (64 starts in four seasons) out of the mix at left tackle, and he could still return this year, there’s a lot of experience. That includes Walker at left tackle (48 starts the last three seasons with the Packers, Damien Lewis<\/a> at left guard (93), center Luke Fortner<\/a> (44), right guard Robert Hunt<\/a> (72), and right tackle Taylor Moton<\/a> (128).<\/p>\n

That said, it’s a different line than it was. Walker isn’t the run-blocker Ekwonu is (not too many are), but he’s a capable pass protector. His PFF pass blocking grade of 70.0 was 41st of 89 graded tackles, overshadowing the fact his run grade was lower (55.4, 71st of 89 tackles). Ekwonu had a 65.0 pass blocking grade, 54th among tackles, but a 70.4 in the run game, 31st.<\/p>\n

But for a team that had two major question marks on offense \u2014 left tackle and center \u2014 entering the week, the place they were Saturday morning is much better than where they were six days earlier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One, he gives them insurance against the condition of incumbent left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, who is coming back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[103558,79,235,260,2567,7,81,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-812566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-2026-free-agency","9":"tag-app-news","10":"tag-carolina","11":"tag-carolina-panthers","12":"tag-carolinapanthers","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-latest-news","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812566","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=812566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}