Some may say that there is no “lead-back” role in Carolina, and they may be right.  However, one of the two Pro Bowl-caliber backs in Carolina must “start” the game.  One of the two has to play the first series, or the first several plays.  It is evident that John Fox prefers his backs to split carries.  But is his ideal split a 50-50 draw, similar to what we saw last season?  Probably not.

In 2008, when both backs were relatively healthy, we saw a 274 (DeAngelo) to 184 (Jonathan) split.  So DeAngelo Williams could easily have been called the Panthers’ lead-back in 2008.

Considering that both backs were healthy and available for all 16 games that year, we ended up with a more lopsided ratio. One could concluded that John Fox would ideally like his backs to share carries at a 60/40 ratio, rather than they nearly 50/50 percentage we saw in 2009 when DeAngelo Williams was limited to 13 games. (more…)