Which Carolina Panthers players must be benched immediately after the team suffered another embarrassing loss at the Detroit Lions in Week 5?
This is getting painful. In more ways than one.
The Carolina Panthers are firmly in the midst of another season of abject failure. Their latest capitulation at the Detroit Lions leaves them winless after five games and with a trip to the Miami Dolphins on the immediate horizon before the bye, there's a very real chance Frank Reich will be starting his head coaching tenure in Charlotte with an 0-6 record.
That is completely unacceptable considering the investment made to the coaching infrastructure and the delusions sold to the fanbase before the campaign. Desperate times call for desperate measures and at least for now, talk is extremely cheap.
While it won't fix everything, here are three Panthers players who must be benched immediately following yet another demoralizing reverse in Week 5.
Ian Thomas - Carolina Panthers TE
Enough.
No Carolina Panthers fan would be crying many tears if Ian Thomas never took another snap for the franchise. He's just not up to the required standard - even as a blocking specialist that the coaching staff has attempted to turn him into - so giving younger individuals with more upside a chance to shine with nothing much to play for represents the best course of action.
Make Tommy Tremble a legitimate No. 2 rather than dropping him in and out. Give Giovanni Ricci or Stephen Sullivan upon his return a chance to prove they belong. What harm could it do at this juncture?
There is enough of a sample size surrounding Thomas to know he cannot be trusted. And just what Frank Reich was thinking dialing up a screen in his direction that led to Bryce Young's first interception at the Detroit Lions is anyone's guess.
DeShawn Williams - Carolina Panthers DL
Hopes were high surrounding DeShawn Williams once the Carolina Panthers secured his services in free agency. His experience and development under defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero with the Denver Broncos resulted in a career year for the player in 2022, so fans were expecting a similar output despite being in a different environment.
Williams is a feel-good story and was clearly relishing the chance to play closer to home. However, not every fairytale works out the way you hoped - something the Panthers and the defensive lineman are finding out to their cost through the first five weeks of the campaign.
There is just something missing where Williams is concerned. He's not generating any sort of push off the line of scrimmage and is often overwhelmed, although not having a genuine nost tackle alongside him is clearly complicating matters.
The former Clemson star's 49.1 grade from Pro Football Focus up to now is a fair reflection of his performance levels to date. While the Panthers aren't blessed with great depth across their defensive line, it might be worth getting a closer look at someone like Nick Thurman or LaBryan Ray to see if they could potentially bring more urgency.
Again, it's not like things could get any worse. Carolina's run defense is an absolute abomination right now, which all starts up front and aside from Derrick Brown, it hasn't been good enough.
Miles Sanders - Carolina Panthers RB
Fans are getting pretty tired of the Miles Sanders experience through five contests. That's not what the Carolina Panthers envisaged when they spent pretty decent money on another running back so soon after trading Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers, with his lack of production once again coming in for severe criticism at the Detroit Lions.
There was one nice run in the first half. But when the Panthers were finally generating some semblance of momentum, Sanders coughed up a fumble that the Lions took full advantage of to extend their lead.
The former second-round pick out of Penn State got a few touches after that. But we began to see more of Chuba Hubbard and Laviska Shenault Jr., who had more success generating yards out of the backfield and looked ar more explosive.
If the Panthers had any sense, they would bench Sanders and move forward with the aforementioned duo. Just how much the running game will feature at the Miami Dolphins if Carolina gets in a hole early remains to be seen, but there are clear confidence issues with their marquee free-agent signing that must be addressed before he returns to being the focal point.
Sanders has a yards-per-carry average of 3.1 through Week 5, so anything less than a complete rethink in strategy would be coaching malpractice. If that means the veteran's role becomes reduced, so be it.