Carolina Panthers
There’s a good mix of teams included in this list. Some are on the brink of championship contention. Others simply need to find talent wherever they can. The Panthers themselves are a mix of the two. One year removed from winning 15 games and earning the NFC title, Cam Newton and Co. put up an absolutely disastrous 2016 campaign.
Whether it was the defense struggling after Carolina let Josh Norman walk or issues protecting Newton on offense, everything that could possibly go wrong here went wrong.
As we mentioned in our review of the 2016 season, Carolina’s front office has refused to address the offensive line situation. Here’s a team that was forced to move Mike Remmers to left tackle with Michael Oher out due to a concussion. That led to major issues in pass protection, and ultimately, injuries to Newton himself.
This must be the first area Carolina addresses with the projected $50-plus million it will have in cap room. That could come in the form of Detroit Lions left tackle Riley Reiff. This would enable either Oher to move to right tackle should he return or Remmers to take back his original starting spot. Then again, adding two tackles in free agency is within the realm of possibility here.
For a team that was close to winning the Super Bowl two seasons ago, there’s a lot of issues here. Will Jonathan Stewart be back in the mix? Even if he is, should Carolina rely on him as a starter? On the defensive side, one has to wonder if the Panthers’ young group of cover guys can take that next step after struggling with inconsistency. If not, does it really make much sense to add even more inexperienced players to this group? These are all questions the Panthers have to answer early in March when they look at the free-agent market.