5 burning questions Panthers fans are asking ahead of Week 9 at Bengals

Carolina Panthers’ lack of pressure

What’s happening with the lack of QB pressure? I could be wrong because I only caught the 4th quarter, but it seems like the Carolina Panthers have a tough time closing the deal on the QB. – Clyde

Great question, Clyde.

The Carolina Panthers took a big gamble this offseason by moving on from Hasson Reddick, who later signed with the now-undefeated Philadelphia Eagles. This hasn’t exactly paid off.

The hope that Yetur Gross-Matos would become a consistent player opposite Brian Burns is no more. Marquis Haynes, Amare Barno, and Henry Anderson haven’t inspired much confidence during their time on the field, either.

Fun fact: Burns has five sacks this season alone while the rest of the defense has seven of them combined. If anything, this shows the former first-round pick is doing a lot of the heavy lifting to get to the quarterback consistently.

Has the pass rush affected the opposition’s play throughout the year? Of course. Is it as consistent as it was last year? No, because of the lack of consistency coming from the edge rushers not named Burns.

As for the interior defensive linemen, Derrick Brown and Matthew Ioannidis have been forces in this area. While the production isn’t to what fans expect, they are getting to the quarterback consistently and pushing opposing linemen into laps, forcing them into ill-advised throws.

Overall, the Panthers have been getting pressure on opposing offenses. However, it’s not as prolonged as it should be on a pass-rush snap-to-snap basis.

Finding consistent pass-rushers is likely to be one of the front office’s top priorities in 2023. Will it be heavily addressed? We will wait and find out once spring rolls around.

For the folks that love to look at potential prospects, consider names such as Clemson’s K.J. Henry, Notre Dame’s Isaiah Foskey, Texas Tech’s Tyree Wilson, and Florida State’s Jared Verse.