Mike Sando from ESPN has re-graded every NFL team’s 2017 offseason with, as he put it, ‘the benefit of hindsight’ and using the grades he originally gave each team during the summer. Because ESPN requires Insider access to read the entirety of the article, I’m only going to share a small portion of the write-up for Carolina. If you wish to read the whole thing, you can do so here (ESPN Insider is required).
Here’s a snippet of his re-grade for the Panthers:
Carolina Panthers
Re-grade: B+ | Offseason grade: C
Re-signing defensive lineman Kawann Short (7.5 sacks), re-signing defensive end Mario Addison (11 sacks), bringing back defensive lineman Julius Peppers (11 sacks) and drafting running back Christian McCaffrey were big moves that produced no regrets.
The move to fire GM Dave Gettleman shortly before training camp will require time to evaluate.
Here’s a portion of the original piece written on June 6, 2017 by Sando (ESPN Insider is required to read the whole thing, but you can do that here if you desire):
Carolina Panthers
Grade: C
First-round pick Christian McCaffrey is almost universally liked by coaches and evaluators alike. However, coaches do think the Panthers would be much better positioned to utilize him if their passing game were predicated on timing.
An exec used the term “mind-blowing” to describe the five-year, $55.5 million deal Carolina paid to former Vikings left tackle Matt Kalil.
”I do think a liability for them is going to be their offensive line, still, which has been their Achilles’ heel, the tackle spot,” an evaluator said. “They addressed it with Kalil, but we will see if they really addressed it with Kalil. That is an example of a signing that could backfire on them.”
My take
I think a B+ grade is fair. The Panthers got a lot of unexpected production from guys like Julius Peppers, and while Christian McCaffrey wasn’t the beast at running back that we hoped he would be, he was still a solid contributor to the offense. I do believe a lot of the problems we saw from the offense have been solved with the dismissal of former offensive coordinator Mike Shula*, and I think our expectations for the offense in 2018 should be higher than they were last offseason.
What about you, Panthers fans? Do you think the Panthers exceeded their offseason expectations, met them, or failed to reach them? Share your thoughts below!
Poll
Did the Panthers meet their pre-season expectations in 2017?
This poll is closed
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29%
They didn’t just meet them, they exceeded them.
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51%
Yes, they did exactly as expected.
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19%
No, they failed to live up to them.