Much of the attention regarding the Carolina Panthers this summer has gone, of course, to their quarterback position.
And why not? We had ourselves a good ol’ competition, baby!
But while that particular type of battle—for any team—would garner the most eyeballs, it’s actually the men who’ll be protecting the passer that may be the most interesting spot for the Panthers this season.
Following Tuesday’s practice, head coach Matt Rhule was asked if he’s settled on a starting lineup for his revamped offensive line. With one exhibition contest left to play, he seemingly had his answer.
“Yeah, I think if we played today, we’d play with the five you guys have seen,” Rhule said. “Boze [Bradley Bozeman] is a guy that, obviously, is contending to start. But he’s been out and still will be out for a while. So for the immediate future, we have those five guys.”
Those five guys he’s referring to, as well as their alignment, are as follows:
- Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu
- Left guard Brady Christensen
- Center Pat Elflein
- Right guard Austin Corbett
- Right tackle Taylor Moton
There you have it, folks. Save for the center position, which Elflein will hold down until Bozeman is healthy enough to make another run at it, this is how the Panthers will likely look to roll.
Plus, Rhule and company will also be rolling with what he believes is some nice depth behind that bunch.
“Cam Erving, to me, has had a great camp,” he added. “He’s a five-position backup, You don’t find many of those in this league. Cade Mays. Deonte Brown. Michael Jordan’s a guy that we know can start for us. Dennis Daley has been really solid since coming back. So there’s a lot of really good players there. I feel really good about the depth of that o-line. But if we played today, we’d play those five.”
Quite honestly, considering what he saw over his first two seasons, Rhule should be feeling pretty good about all of it there—as the Panthers have assembled themselves their strongest offensive trench in quite some time.
