Most NFL teams have a gentle bell curve between its best and worst players, with the middle being occupied by solid starting talent. This is how the best teams are constructed, with the worst ones diverting from this norm as much as possible. ESPN and Pro Football Focus did a breakdown of every team to look at its deficiencies, and the good news is that the Panthers are in great shape, but the team's dead weight is weighing down its talent.
The Panthers are right on the cusp of "contending" and "average," according to PFF's metric -- which is a fair assessment for a 7-8-1 team that made the playoffs and put up a good fight before being sent home. From top to bottom the team is missing six "above average" players from becoming Super Bowl contenders. Here's how the roster was broken down:
There isn't too much to argue over here, though asserting that Kony Ealy was "bad" is probably a little harsh. These rankings were purely based on 2014, so there will be some movement -- but even taking that into consideration we saw Ealy move forward in leaps and bounds, particularly at the back end of the season. If anything it seems a little premature to include rookies in the rankings, especially since they all (should) develop -- but the methodology is understandable.
This list highlights the Panthers key problem: Too many bad players. That sounds like an oversimplification, but this chart shows that it's true. The NFL average of bad players on a roster is 5.8 and the Panthers had eight. That's more than any playoff team in 2014, with the exception of the Cardinals.
Moreover, it's problematic to have your two starting offensive tackles listed as bad players. We knew it would be an issue before the season began, but this really puts it in context.