Why this season of Panthers football will be worth watching, even if it’s not pretty
This offseason for the Carolina Panthers has been anything but slow.
In one six-month stretch, veteran and faces of the franchise left. Some by choice, others had the decision made for them. A new head coach was hired, who brought in a new coaching staff. The front office saw the addition of a new couple faces and the roster was rebuilt. On top of that, the coronavirus pandemic hit the country creating the most unconventional offseason of all time.
Despite some uncertainty about the season starting on time, the Panthers will play football Sunday. They’ve had no true full-game dress rehearsal, just a couple of scrimmages that were limited on the hitting. Plenty of firsts will take place at Bank of America Stadium when the Raiders and Panthers take the field, and they aren’t even limited to the Panthers. (Hey there! Las Vegas has an NFL team!)
This season will be far from perfect for Carolina. Four rookies are starting on defense. To most of this coaching staff, the NFL is new. But there are still plenty of reasons to be interested in this team and intrigued by how they’ll do Sunday. How could you not be excited by the overwhelming number of questions that need to be answered by this team?
How exactly will Joe Brady’s offense look and how successful can it be? Rhule and his staff had a plan of how they wanted this team to look — can that work? How will all of the new players look together on the field, especially starting so many rookies on defense?
This is the start of something meant to last. Rhule was not hired to coach for a couple of seasons and then be kicked out the door. His long-term contract is evidence of that. Like he had at Temple and Baylor, Rhule’s first season in Carolina likely won’t be pretty. A tough schedule awaits that includes matchups against Drew Brees and Tom Brady (twice) and a visit to the defending Super Bowl champions.
The defense is going to have plenty of rough patches. The issues at cornerback aren’t magically going to disappear. But I’ll be watching to see how the rookies develop over the course of the season. How Pride Jr. looks in Week 16 rather than how he fares Sunday against the Raiders will be far more telling of his future.
Will Teddy Bridgewater be the quarterback of the future or just the stop-gap to a rookie talent to be selected? How does Christian McCaffrey respond a season after making history, and how will Curtis Samuel perform in a contract year? How strange will it be to see no fans in the stands? I told you there were plenty of questions.
Cam Newton is gone. Luke Kuechly now watches this team practice from the sideline and Ron Rivera is coaching in Washington. But this team will be worth watching because the future of the franchise, for better or for worse, will be playing out before everyone’s eyes. It won’t be pretty, and for fans it may often be hard to watch, but it will be the start of a new direction. And finally, finally, there will be answers.
Gather your snacks and get in front of the TV. The new era of Panthers football is about to get underway.
This story was originally published September 13, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Why this season of Panthers football will be worth watching, even if it’s not pretty."
