Grading the previous five eventful Carolina Panthers offseasons
By Luke Tucker
Carolina Panthers 2019 offseason grade: D+
In what would turn out to be Ron Rivera’s final offseason with the Carolina Panthers, it was his worst draft-wise. The organization landed a star in the first round when it took defensive end Brian Burns, but after that, it was a train wreck, to put it nicely.
The Panthers traded up in the second round to get offensive tackle Greg Little, only for him to play 14 games – starting just six – across two seasons before he was released. In the third round, they wasted another pick on hometown kid Will Grier.
Grier played in two games for the Panthers, throwing four interceptions and zero touchdowns.
Of their other four selections that year, only one, Dennis Daley, is still on the roster. Now entering his fourth season in the league, the offensive lineman appears firmly on the roster bubble.
Carolina desperately needs to rebuild its offensive line, and Daley seems to be expendable at this point. If he were to go, that would leave Burns as the only member of the Panthers’ 2019 draft class still with the team.
As bad as the draft was, Carolina’s 2019 free-agency period wasn’t a whole lot better. They did sign Matt Paradis as a replacement for Ryan Kalil, and he wasn’t awful. However, he hasn’t lived up to his billing and missed most of this past season with a torn ACL.
Eric Reid, who was signed midway through the 2018 season, was given a three-year deal in 2019, but was much less effective that year and was released following the season. Offensive lineman Daryl Williams was also re-signed but had a rough 2019 campaign after suffering a torn MCL the previous year.
Other Carolina signees in 2019 included Bruce Irvin, Joey Slye, and Gerald McCoy. None of the three is still with the team, and only the kicker lasted more than one season.
One last tidbit of information regarding the 2019 offseason is that that was the year that Taylor Heinicke was released in favor of Kyle Allen.
Whether or not Heinicke would have been any better than Allen in 2019 could be debated. But after this past season, it appears as though he was worth keeping.
All in all, 2019 was a rough spring and summer for the Panthers. Their draft selections didn’t pan out, no newcomer really stood out, and the quarterback questions that we’re still facing right now truly started to begin.