4 biggest challenges facing the Carolina Panthers in 2020
By Dean Jones
Biggest challenges for Carolina Panthers: Youth over experience
The Carolina Panthers made a concerted effort to go younger this offseason. They decimated the roster of veteran players on high salaries and replaced them with cheaper alternatives with little or no starting experience.
This will put considerable pressure on the experienced players that remain on the roster. The likes of Kawann Short will be pivotal to the defense in 2020 before he is potentially cut. And Pro Bowl left tackle Russell Okung could use his knowhow to good effect on the offensive side of the ball.
The onus will be on Carolina’s coaching staff to ensure that rookies or those starting for the first time do not become overawed. It will be easy for heads to drop if things do not go their way, especially initially. But how they respond to different challenges during a campaign of expected struggles is going to tell Matt Rhule and others just what sort of hope the team has with this current group going forward.
Having so many young and relatively unproven players all coming together at the same time is going to come with its fair share of complications. This is especially evident on defense, where the Panthers allocated every Draft pick in 2020.
Up to four of their seven selections could start right away. So while some expectations will naturally come with this. It is important the organization looks at the bigger picture with each prospect in terms of what they can bring to the franchise long-term.
How this balance between youth and experience is managed during the season is going to have huge ramifications for 2020 and beyond.