Here at Cat Scratch Reader we have counted down the final 100 days leading up to the Carolina Panthers season opener by for at least the past ten years. We’ve always done this by highlighting the current player on the roster whose jersey number matches the day on the countdown. This year, we decided to change that up a bit by counting down our own list of the Top 100 Panthers of all time. This does not correspond to jersey number, does not need to be somebody who wore a jersey, and will in no way be controversial.
#70. Richard Marshall
Richard Marshall played one of the most difficult jobs in professional football, and maybe in professional sports in general. He was the number two or three corner on the field opposite a shutdown corner.
Marshall was selected by the Panthers in the second round of the 2006 draft to serve as the number three corner behind Chris Gamble and the previous year’s big free agent signing, Ken Lucas. Lucas ended up battling approximately 35 different injuries during that 2006 season, meaning Marshall got a lot more looks as a starter than the Panthers probably intended. He did well enough to earn himself a spot on the Pro Football Writers of America all rookie team.
He served in a rotational role for the first three years of his career before the Panthers released Lucas after the 2008 season. In those three years, Marhsall racked up seven interceptions, including two for touchdowns, and six fumble recoveries. After Lucas’s release, Marshall was elevated to full time starter alongside Gamble. In two seasons as a full time starter, he tallied another seven interceptions and three fumble recoveries.
My personal memory may be skewed because I was a teenager in the Richard Marshall era. It felt like he gave up most of the successful passes on the outside against the Panthers, which gave the perception that he wasn’t that good, but that was often a product of playing opposite a very good cornerback in Chris Gamble. He was always a steady complement to Gamble and Lucas and was a key component of some pretty good Panthers defenses in the late 2000s. When you’re a solid player on good units for five years, that’s good enough to earn you a spot on that list. Marshall was that, so he lands as number 70 on the list of greatest Panthers of all time.
