5 Carolina Panthers who’ve exceeded expectations at the bye week
By Dean Jones
Which Carolina Panthers players have exceeded expectations from a performance standpoint as the team heads into their bye week?
It might not be going according to plan for the Carolina Panthers this season. But the excuse can be made that they’ve already reached last season’s win total and progress is being made slowly.
However, that doesn’t really hold any weight when one considers the talent at Carolina’s disposal and the fact almost the same problems keep emerging week after week.
Unless these things are solved, the Panthers are only going to get so far. And things aren’t getting much better with Christian McCaffrey and Donte Jackson both being placed on season-ending injured/reserve in consecutive days.
It’s worth remembering that it hasn’t been all bad. Here are five Panthers players who’ve greatly exceeded expectations during the 2021 season so far.
Player No. 1
Zane Gonzalez – Carolina Panthers K
The Panthers had some serious problems at kicker before Zane Gonzalez rocked into town. Joey Slye and Ryan Santoso weren’t anything like reliable enough to be counted on consistently and former Arizona State star’s indifferent first game saw him on the hot seat very early on.
Thankfully, this was swiftly followed by a huge upturn in production. Gonzalez has been lights out this season up to the bye and is a two-time NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in recognition of his accomplishments.
Gonzalez has a 90.9 percent success rate on field-goal attempts and 95% of his extra points have gone through the upright. One could argue he’s been Carolina’s MVP all things considered and there is a high likelihood the veteran will be offered a new contract this spring.