The good news is that the Carolina Panthers are still in first place in their division despite losing three straight games. The bad news is that winning the NFC South is almost a meaningless accomplishment at this point, as whoever emerges from the division is practically guaranteed to get decimated in the wild-card round by a much better team.
General manager Dan Morgan has done an excellent job building up this roster over the last two years, but their midseason grade from The Athletic shows they still have a lot of work to do. Chad Graff and Josh Kendall have Carolina at No. 21 in their power rankings, down one spot from last week, gave them a 'C' at this point f the campaign:
There have been a few impressive moments for the Panthers this season
and enough strong performances from Bryce Young to offer encouragement. Plus, they play in a terrible division (in which they’re still tied for first place). But they have a below-average offense and defense, based on EPA per play, ranking 18th and 27th respectively.
The biggest issue is that not enough of their major offseason investments have worked out.
There are a couple of pleasant surprises, such as rookie defensive backs Zakee Wheatley and Will Lee III—who were both Day 3 draft picks. However, first-rounder Monroe Freeling is struggling at right tackle, free-agent pickup Rasheed Walker has totally bombed at left tackle and edge rusher Jaelan Phillips hasn't been able to stay on the field.
So far, the only big-ticket item that has aged well is the signing of middle linebacker Devin Lloyd, who's made a positive impact against the run, rushing the passer and in coverage.
Lloyd is just one man though, and the Panthers are not talented enough to overcome missing on big swings like first-round picks and major free-agent signings. Hopefully for Carolina, things improve for those pieces in the second half of the season.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers' midseason grade shows they still have work to do
