4 things Panthers HC Matt Rhule must get right in 2021
By Dean Jones
What are the things Matt Rhule must get right in 2021 if the Carolina Panthers want to become a legitimate playoff contender in year two of his reign?
Matt Rhule was fully aware of the big job he took on when agreed to become head coach of the Carolina Panthers. Owner David Tepper bet big on the former Baylor man to lead the organization back to prominence with a seven-year, $60 million deal to prise him away from the college system. But even though his first year at the helm only came with a 5-11 record, there were plenty of encouraging signs.
Rhule wasted no time making his presence felt. He came across extremely well during a significantly disrupted offseason due to COVID-19, with a high-intensity training cap exactly what Carolina’s young roster needed ahead of the campaign.
This was always going to be a learning curve for all parties involved. Losing so many close games was part of that.
But now Rhule has found his feet to a certain extent, much more will be expected in 2021.
Matt Rhule can steer the Carolina Panthers back to the playoffs.
The Panthers have an exciting young core to build around and may have as much as $50 million in cap space to work with providing they make the necessary cuts. Some big decisions need to be made that Rhule is going to have a huge say on and if Carolina can make the right choices, they’ll be in a strong position to improve further and possibly make the postseason.
On this subject, we took a look a four things Rhule must get right in the coming weeks to enable the Panthers to progress in 2021.
Number 1
Build an improving defense
The strides made by Phil Snow’s defense during the second half of the season were eye-catching. They grew in stature with every game and providing some more talent joins the ranks this offseason, it might propel them to one of the NFL’s best in no time at all.
As everybody knows, having a good defense isn’t a guarantee for success.
But it sure does help.
The Carolina Panthers have some exceptional pieces in Derrick Brown, Brian Burns, Jeremy Chinn, and Donte Jackson, with other key personnel such as Zach Kerr, Efe Obada, Corn Elder, and Yetur Gross-Matos also playing their part.
Finding the right characters to take Carolina to the next stage is going to be difficult. But the foundation is there to build a dominant group.