Panthers Appear to be Retooling Entire Offensive Line

by Jaxon on Mar 4, 2008 9:31 AM EST in Panther News

Steve Reed with the Gaston Gazette reports the Panthers may have different starters at all five positions this season.

The sources said the Panthers have already decided to move Travelle Wharton to left guard, Jordan Gross to left tackle and make Ryan Kalil the starting center. Keydrick Vincent, who agreed to a two-year contract with the Panthers on Monday, will battle with Justin Hartwig at right guard. As for right tackle, sources said the Panthers are strongly considering using their first-round pick in April’s NFL draft to grab one of a handful of outstanding college tackles — and then start that player right away.

I really like this scenario. If the Panthers are looking for a right tackle in the draft then there should be a good one available in the 2nd round such as Gosder Cherilus (BC), Carl Nicks (Neb) or Anthony Collins (Kansas). We could then use our #1 pick on DE or a RB. The Panthers may even be thinking of moving up in the draft:

General manager Marty Hurney, coach John Fox and other members of the staff were in Idaho meet-ing and working out highly rated Boise State offensive tackle Ryan Clady.
Clady is considered a top-10 pick, which would suggest the Panthers are looking to move up in the draft. The Panthers are slated to pick 13th, but they did acquire an extra third-round pick in the trade for Kris Jenkins, giving them some added flexibility to trade up.

I’m not so excited about moving up to get Ryan Clady. It will cost us another draft pick or two and I’m not so sure about Clady given he skipped the combine. I actually think there is a better chance he falls to the Panthers at #13. I think what makes drafting an LT at #13 an option is the following:

If there’s one hitch in the plan it could be this: The Panthers might keep Gross at his more comfortable position at right tackle if the rookie they draft proves to be a quick study. However, the initial plan is to move Gross to left tackle because they don’t want to entrust a rookie to protecting Jake Delhomme’s blindside - at least not until they feel completely comfortable with that idea.

We certainly don’t like the thought of a rookie at LT either but I think Chris Williams is the safer pick in this scenario. He could play RT until they are comfortable and then switch he and Gross mid-season if that’s what Gross wants. I think Gross will welcome the switch since he is still not signed long-term. He will have more value on the market if he can play either position effectively (of course I expect the Panthers to lock him up long term).

I’m very excited to see the Panthers have determined to really shake things up on offense. The offense should have a completely different look next season.

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keydrick vincent

It makes sense.. the Panthers need another G to push Travelle Wharton and Justin Hartwig to perform.. Nothing wrong with a little competition .. It brings out the best in players, including the o-line... Everyone else is complaining on Charlotte.com that the Panthers don't make enough splashes in FA but the way I see it is this year was extremely weak for FA to begin with...

I also see everyone at Charlotte extremely upset over signing the underachieving CB Richard C. from the Steelers.. He was brought in to play special teams and help with the Panthers KO duties.. If he plays well enough to allow the team to move one of their 3 starting corners to FS, which I doubt will happen but you never know, this is a plus.. RC himself could even turn out to be good enough to play the FS... At this point, just about anyone is an upgrade over Deke Cooper at FS, and the Panthers have a ton of depth now at CB to play around a bit... This signing could turn out to be a blessing in disguise if Richard Marshall finally gets a starting job at corner, it's been long overdue anyway IMO ..

by jake2smitty on Mar 4, 2008 10:51 AM EST reply actions

It is a weak FA class

There's not much left at this point to go after. It would seem we need a veteran QB. Or a FS would be nice.

by Jaxon on Mar 4, 2008 1:28 PM EST up reply actions

Clady

A couple of things. First, stop calling Boise State a "small school". It's not. It's a mid-major, which is not "small". Besides that, small schools like Louisiana-Monroe or Arkansas-Pine Bluff or Texas Southern or Troy State still produce fine players. Respectively, those schools produced Chris Harris, L. C. Greenwood (and Dante Wesley!), Michael Strahan, DeMarcus Ware (and Osi Umenyiora).

Boise State's in the WAC. Willie Roaf came out of the WAC, from Louisiana Tech. Don't hate the fact that he's playing somewhere other than the SEC.

Anyway, I sat down with a friend the other day and watched the Fiesta Bowl when Boise State played Oklahoma, paying particular attention to Clady's performance. He had a couple of very nice plays, one or two bad plays, but was otherwise unimpressive. He played LT, and they ran sweeps to the right a lot, or ran cut-backs to the left that took advantage of over pursuit by the OK LBs, where the holes opened up between center and guard. So he was not a force in the run game. In fact, on Boise St's first touchdown run, he was pancaked by a blitzing linebacker when he got off-balance.

They asked him to do a lot of cut-blocks on the DE to facilitate quick slants to the flanker on the left, and he is athletic enough to cut, jump back up and help the QB if the pass isn't there and the QB has to scramble. Impressive athleticism, but as a sophomore he wasn't as powerful as I'd like. I imagine that's less of a problem now. But his footwork is solid, and he's able to move well, and he uses his incredibly long arms well.

So there's my write-up on Clady.

As for moving up in the draft, it'll probably be necessary to get him. But my problem is that, packaging our 1 and a 3, we only move up five spots in the draft. We could move up almost 20 spots by packaging our 2 and a 3, from #43 to around #25, and land a second first-round pick. Now that's exciting. First round LT, first round DE. Many problems solved.

Oh, and don't hold your breath waiting on a first-round RB. Won't happen. We've got a first-round RB on-hand, we just need a complement for him.

by r3 on Mar 4, 2008 12:50 PM EST reply actions

Nice write up on Clady

You make good points. I think the Panthers are evaluating him in case he drops to #13. I have a hard time thinking the Panthers will trade up to get him. So if he is available at #13 should the Panthers take him over Williams?

Your point on Boise St is well taken. They had a great season and made the BCS, hardly a 'small school' accomplishment.

by Jaxon on Mar 4, 2008 1:32 PM EST up reply actions

umm... maybe?

I just haven't seen any tape on Williams, so it's impossible for me to judge that. I don't always trust those "oh, he's got a high motor" or "he's a natural knee-bender" kind of scouting evaluations from sites because I don't get much from those evaluations. Besides, I don't know who's doing the evaluating, and they might have a different take on a player's skills than I would.

Still, until I can see a Vandy game (and I've got one coming down via the internets... should be done in about 31 days), I just won't have much of an opinion about the guy.

Any reasonable idea how to see some tape on the guy?

by r3 on Mar 5, 2008 2:33 PM EST up reply actions