Re-grading Panthers position groups on offense after the 2021 season

It was a difficult 2021 season for the Carolina Panthers, especially when it came to the offensive side of the football.

Well, it was one of those years for Carolina Panthers fans. The kind that is celebrated as being over so that the disappointment will finally end.

A hot start was doomed by poor coaching, poor performance, and questionable personnel decisions that have never really been explained.

There was so much hope and anticipation going into this season for the Panthers even with the less than ideal first year under Matt Rhule and the somewhat rocky offseason handling of the quarterback and linebacker positions.

Looking back as to what caused that hope to be dashed so quickly reveals that not only one thing went wrong. It was a cumulative effort by almost every level of the organization mixing together to create one of the worst-looking football seasons in franchise history.

This article will take a look at the offense specifically and let me tell you, it isn’t pretty.

After a disappointing 2020 season where fans and players alike saw that the team was so very close to competing, the Panthers doubled down by trading for Sam Darnold before the draft in pursuit of an upgrade from the ultra-conservative Teddy Bridgewater.

Continuing this line of thinking, the team passed on multiple top-tier quarterback prospects and chose to draft cornerback Jaycee Horn in the first round instead. While attempting to load up with weapons at receiver and running back in the later rounds.

Even more controversial than passing on the likes of Justin Fields or Mac Jones is the fact the team could have had some of the best linemen to come out of college in recent memory. Instead, they signed low-value, underperforming veterans to ridiculous deals.

The results on the field were about as good as you would expect from these moves. Carolina was lethargic, sloppy, undisciplined, and seemed to give up a sack every other play while completing more passes to the defense than the offense.

Grading these positions is done on a letter scale with A+ being near enough perfect and an F being an absolute failure. The positions are graded on three factors, how close they got to their potential, on-field performance, and end result while taking into account factors such as injury and coaching.

With that said, let’s take a closer look at how each individual position grades out. Buckle up, it’s going to be a rough ride.