4 concerning stats for the Panthers defense in 2020 so far
By Dean Jones
Tre Boston and Juston Burris are PFF’s worst graded safeties after two weeks
To say that Juston Burris and Tre Boston have been disappointing during the first two weeks of the season is a massive understatement. The Carolina Panthers placed plenty of responsibility on the safety duo to produce the goods and they are not meeting these expectations so far.
This is reflected in their current Pro Football Focus ranking, which places Boston at No. 75 out of a possible 76 with a dismal grade of 35.4. The Panthers gave Boston a three-year, $18 million contract extension this offseason that included an $8 million signing bonus and a further $8 million guaranteed, but he is not living up to that big financial commitment during the early stages of the campaign.
Burris was a free-agent signing this spring and is ranked dead last among safeties in terms of PFF ranking at No. 76. His grade of 34.7 is the NFL’s worst and if this is something that continues going forward, his stay in Carolina might be a short one.
PFF is not the gospel when it comes to this sort of thing, and they do get some grades wrong. However, Boston and Burris’ struggles through two weeks have been particularly evident and this wasn’t what was expected, to put it mildly.
Credit to the cornerback group, who have tried valiantly to hide their deficiencies. But the fact of the matter is that is was supposed to be the other way around in 2020 and both players need to call on their experience, use their mettle, and make their presence felt in a positive manner.