After the first weekend of practice it was the primary glaring weakness on display and I wasn't the only one that saw it:
Punt returners again looking very shaky. The wind isn't helping, but still.
— Joe Person (@josephperson) July 27, 2014
And Barner drops a punt. And Brown can't figure out a high one from Nortman. This is a concern
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) July 27, 2014
All three of the candidate vying for return duties had trouble getting their hands on the ball. Here's about the rosiest picture I can paint of what I saw on display:
- P Brad Nortman does punt the ball really high and can get a serious wobble on it making it hard to catch
- It was a little windy at the practice fields where there is no stadium stands to block the swirling winds. The guys in the scissor lifts were swaying a little
That's about as rosy as I can paint it. All three players had drops on both days. In some cases they couldn't even get under the ball, instead choosing to let it drop at times in an effort to not grossly muff the catch. This is how bad its gotten, Rivera has lowered the bar to this:
Rivera says punt returners need to start catching the ball, even if they have to fair catch it.
— Joe Person (@josephperson) July 27, 2014
We're back to simply hoping for a clean fair catch. The good news is the coaching staff recognizes the problem hence the group was doing this today's morning's practice:
Punt returners catching balls out of the Jugs machine today. Doing a better job hanging on.
— Joe Person (@josephperson) July 28, 2014
I agree with the need to get back to the basics but it doesn't make me feel better about the situation. Might the Panthers look to add a return guy at some point before the season kick off? Rivera floated the idea:
Panthers camp: Punt returners struggle in practice | CharlotteObserver.com
"The thing we have to understand is first and foremost, we’ve got to catch the ball," Rivera said after Sunday’s full-pads practice. "That’s the biggest thing we have to emphasize with these guys – catch it. I could care less if we fair caught it every time, but we need to catch it." Ginn, who signed with Arizona as a free agent, averaged 12.2 yards per return and had several key runbacks during his only season in Charlotte. Rivera said the Panthers could look for help outside the organization but first want to give the internal candidates more chances.
If that is to be avoided then Kenjon Barner, Antoine Cason and/or Philly Brown needs to catch every single punt that goes there way starting yesterday.
I think both Barner and Cason have the ability to 'right the ship' so to speak. Philly Brown on the other hand has nothing on his resume at this point and looking at an uphill climb. In other words, he will need to break a few returns to get serious consideration.