4 Panthers players who must see playing time moving forward

Jermaine Carter – Carolina Panthers LB

Big things were expected of Jermaine Carter this season. The linebacker has waited patiently for his opportunity to become a prominent part of the rotation. But this just hasn’t transpired through Week 8.

Carter was the favorite to win the starting job at outside linebacker opposite Shaq Thompson before training camp. Jeremy Chinn’s immense impact saw him surge up the depth chart and leave the former fifth-round pick on the outside looking in.

The player has seen his snap count drop from 24 percent in 2019 to just four percent this season. Carter clearly hasn’t done enough to impress the coaching staff so far and given Carolina’s struggles at the linebacker spot, his absence from the lineup is even more bemusing.

Whether Carter has done something to become out of favor is up for debate. But if Tahir Whitehead and Shaq Thompson continue to struggle then how much worse could things get?

Carter deserves at least a chance to show what he can do. He is in the penultimate year of his deal and would be playing with a sense of urgency that just doesn’t appear to be there with the two veterans taking most of the snaps at the second level. But the Panthers’ decision to put Chinn at the position that the player had his sights on proved to be right in no uncertain terms.