Hello CSR! Welcome to Brian Answers, part two of your weekly Panthers fan mailbag for everyone! Due to TNF this past week, we elected to let you ask all your questions over the weekend, so here I am to provide you with answers. Let’s dive in!
Myates: Is the o-line disaster being addressed? I mean really? That’s the best they could do? No nfl team will ever have a chance when your guards and tackles are sitting in the QB’s lap all night.
At this point, im not even sure what could be done. How about
we settle for not being lied to anymore? Just come out and tell us, “Hey, we’re terrible so don’t expect much. The problem really starts with our offensive line and we have no answer for that so buckle up, its going to be another long season of terrible football out of us. Thank you.”
Well, the Panthers did designate OL Brady Christensen to return this week. In reality, you can add only so much depth to combat an injury spat. The Panthers starting tackles from 2025 started the off-season both injured, Ikem Ekwonu might be back this season and obviously Taylor Moton won’t be. Monroe Freeling is banged up, Damien Lewis hasn’t played in recent weeks, and the Panthers center acquisition C Luke Fortner has been bad. At this point, I’m looking to see if they make a change at center. Dave Canales alluded to changes coming along the offensive line this week, but his answer was a bit vague so we really won’t know what that means until Sunday.
As far as the second part of your question, no NFL head coach is going to come out and throw the team under the bus like that. I’m sure it would be refreshing for us as fans, but that’s a one way ticket to the unemployment line. So while I understand your frustration, the reality is that ownership and fans should expect the team to try and respond, no matter what kind of cards they’ve been dealt. Especially coming off a playoff appearance where improvement is reasonably expected.
JakeNCVA: Who will be the new Defensive Coordinator?
Defensive line coach Todd Wash will take over coordinator duties. And the move does make sense since he has some history with Canales and Dan Morgan in Seattle. Will it fix many of their issues? I’m not sure, but they brought in DB coach DeAngelo Hall this week to help coach up whatever changes they are expected to make post-Ejiro Evero. So I guess we’ll see what happens!
kevinjalltheway: So Brian, we can’t keep in tight ends to chip block and then maybe slip out? Roll Young one way then the other? Even use 6 or 7 linemen and run sweeps? Wildcat? Anything? Tet/Coker/Waller/Tremble/Evans/Metchie/Moore/Tremayne, nobody can get open? Even Hubbard outside runs proved successful. Last question, seriously, Why has Haynes King not been made available for “Taysom Hill” style plays? Is he showing out that poorly in practice? I honestly wished we had snagged Hill instead of Pickett for our backup even with keeping Haynes King. Taysom Hill would be a upgrade to Pickett and probably Young.
I think with the mini-bye week following Thursday Night Football, we might see some changes to the play calls to help alleviate some of the offensive line issues. Its hard to install wholesale changes following that Bucs beat down with you only have three days of prep and practice before your next game. We might see additional offensive linemen used, but I think simply leaning harder on the rushing attack should help a bit.
As far as Haynes King goes, I think giving him a jersey on game day as the 3rd QB is just a luxury Carolina cannot afford. Usually they need to suit up extra OL and defensive backs due to the injuries there. Maybe we’ll see more of it when they aren’t calling guys up from the practice squad as often for big roles.
Revshawn: What’s the confidence level looking like right now with Bryce Young out of a scale of 1-10 with 1 being the bat signal and when you look up at the sky and it’s Haynes King’s face to 10 being Jesus except they’ve imposed Bryce Young’s face onto Jesus?
I’m at a 7 right now with Bryce Young. I don’t think any QB could have done much these past two weeks with the amount of immediate pressure he’s been facing. I am of the mindset that Bryce isn’t the problem.
KeepPounding88: Giving up playcalling in the offseason, and now firing Evero, really makes it seem like Canales is on the hot seat. What do you think are the chances he’s still our HC next year?
I think Dave Canales will be the head coach going into 2027. My own theory is that after Dave Canales stepped into a “true” head coaching role this season, that he might have been clashing with Ejiro Evero since he now has a hand in the game plan for both sides of the ball. I think no matter how this season ends, you go into 2027 on Bryce’s contract year, and make a decision on them both based on what you see from 2027. But this season isn’t over yet, and the Panthers still control their own destiny as the leader of the NFC South.
Glacks: What’s wild is I think with a somewhat competent offensive line or a better plan of protection for Bryce than we got in the last two weeks, I still think we would win the division. Call me crazy but if Bryce has a little bit of time and if that pressure isn’t right in his lap or down the A gap he’s been outstanding this year. In the first 5 weeks the protection still sucked but it wasn’t abysmal like the last two weeks and our offense was humming. I would even look into the possibility of trading a later round pick for another swing tackle or at least someone that is going to do marginally better than Walker (currently has the highest pressure rating of ANY offensive lineman in the league). Heck even getting back Cade Mayes would be cool, he played so well for us last year so I was bummed when we didn’t re-sign him.
I agree. Its definitely hard to be optimistic following two really tough losses, but the Panthers do have the ability to regain control of their season if they can weather the OL and CB injuries right now. I don’t really expect them to make a trade however, at least not for anybody I’d deem a starter to replace Rasheed Walker or Luke Fortner. I think they just try to gameplan around the issues, see if they can get the OL to gel, and maybe shift in some of their depth like Sam Hecht at center. I don’t think there’s a trade they can make that will magically save things.
schrodingersblackcat: Which Dave actually booted Evero?
While I know fans love to speculate on who is truly pulling the strings on moves the team makes, I have no reason to doubt that Dave Canales was in fact the one to make the final call. David Tepper has definitely seemed to give Dan Morgan and Canales autonomy in their decision making, and like I said above, with Canales having a more holistic role this season, he may have decided he didn’t like what Evero was doing with the defense.
SmoothC: Of the oline was healthy, do they win last night? I think so
I think a fully healthy offensive line definitely does better. The number of free rushers Bryce Young has been facing would have more to do with the offensive line not being on the same page, or Bryce not being able to properly read the defense and call the appropriate protections in response.
storybook: Should be getting a few of the injured players back soon, right? Brooks, Legette, Christiansen, Ekwonu, Horn/Jackson, and Phillips should all be about ready to come back
Brady Christensen is already looking at a return. I think Jaelan Phillips could be back next week after they pulled the plug on having him play four days after he missed the Bucs game with his injury. Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson… I don’t know. In theory both could be back in the next 3-4 weeks, but I’m not holiding my breath. Xavier Legette and Jonathon Brooks could both be back in the next couple of weeks but we won’t really know until they start actually practicing.
CasualFanAlso: The defensive coordinator change has been made. What changes are expected from Walsh? Will it be changes to the scheme since his history indicates that he may prefer a 4 – 3 type scheme. Some say the Panthers do not have the personnel for a 4 – 3, and some say they do not have the personnel for a 3 – 4 either. Will it be making changes to who plays? Or will it be playing type such as less soft zone shell?
I definitely don’t expect them to shift to a 4-3, the personnel isn’t conducive to that. But whether its 3-4 or 4-3, things don’t really change much anyway. I think they’ll be using more man coverage and simplifying the defensive play calls to give these guys less to think about and allow them to be more reactive. It seems Evero’s scheme was quite complicated, the team might be better off keeping things a bit simpler so they can focus on just making plays. Guess we’ll see this weekend.
That’s all for this week, Panthers fans. Join us next week for another edition of the weekly fan mailbag!
