Carolina Panthers must make big OL changes after latest collapse

Big changes are needed regarding the Carolina Panthers offensive line following their latest collapse at the Dallas Cowboys.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where things went wrong for the Carolina Panthers during their first loss of the campaign in Week 4. The offensive line was once again a weak link at the Dallas Cowboys and this should be the final straw behind some big changes across the board in a critical area of the field.

This is nothing new to those who follow the Panthers. And the concerns were there for all to see before the regular season began after Carolina decided to bring in underperforming veterans and mid-round draft picks in pursuit of bolstering their options.

The gamble hasn’t paid off.

And now is the time for Carolina to recognize this was an error.

Those in power within the organization have time to turn things around. There remain some intriguing options on the free-agent market and general manager Scott Fitterer has been extremely aggressive with trades since joining the franchise from the Seattle Seahawks.

Whatever options they’re starting with right now outside of Taylor Moton, they are not coming up with the protection needed.

Sam Darnold was under constant duress at the Cowboys. He was sacked five times, hit on 11 separate occasions, and always seemed to be working from a collapsed pocket as Dallas focused their attention on stopping the signal-caller in the absence of Christian McCaffrey.

Carolina Panthers didn’t bring in enough OL quality this offseason.

Simply put, Cam Erving is not an NFL left tackle.

Whether he’d be better suited to the interior is up for debate. But his lack of confidence as a blindside protector is causing some serious complications.

The guard position occupied by John Miller isn’t much better, with center Matt Paradis giving up a sack on Sunday in another lackluster display.

This overshadowed another largely positive game from Dennis Daley, his second in a row.

What does this say about Carolina’s other options if they cannot move ahead of them on the depth chart? Brady Christensen was an elite left tackle at BYU but hasn’t gotten a look, with Michael Jordan and Deonte Brown not activated yet this season as they work on their respective games.

Something needs to be done.

Otherwise, this is a trend that’s going to continue throughout the season and potentially impact Carolina’s chances of securing a surprise playoff spot.

In truth, the Panthers ignored this position during the offseason and they’re paying the price. Even the acquisition of Pat Elflein – who’s currently on the reserve/injured list – was a disaster before he got hurt.

Dallas and their defensive coordinator Dan Quinn laid the blueprint on how to beat the Panthers that other teams on the schedule will now follow. It’s going to take a monumental turnaround from this current unit to counteract this threat.

Throw the rookies in or bring in additional reinforcements.

This is a precarious situation. One the Panthers brought on themselves in all honesty.

Games like Week 4 are won in the trenches. One only has to look at the dominant performance of All-Pro guard Zack Martin and the Dallas offensive line to see that.

Until this is sorted in a satisfactory fashion, the Panthers will only get so far. And that is a big problem.