5 Buccaneers players the Carolina Panthers must keep quiet in Week 18

Jordan Whitehead – S

In Week 16, Jordan Whitehead picked off Cam Newton to completely change the momentum of the game in the first quarter, and he’ll be looking to do so against Sam Darnold when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers clash with the Carolina Panthers for the second time in three weeks.

Whitehead has quietly become one of the Buccaneers’ most reliable defenders in his fourth NFL season and has been on a bit of a hot streak down the stretch of the campaign.

But his biggest game came against Carolina and he got to see both Newton and Darnold in that contest, making this week scary for either quarterback with him on the opposing side. Especially considering there probably won’t be much in the way of time in the pocket to go through progressions.

Tampa Bay is still banged up on defense and needs the former fourth-round pick to have a good game. Both in coverage and coming down to assist at the second level in run support.

The Panthers offense does not want Whitehead to have another game like he did last time, so they’ll have to do everything they can to keep him quiet. Keeping the safety guessing is the biggest way to keep him away from the footbal, but whether Darnold can do this is another matter.