5 burning questions Carolina Panthers fans are asking before 2023 preseason finale

Raequan Williams chances of making Carolina Panthers roster

What are your thoughts on Raequan Williams? Do you think he can make the 53-man roster? - Nengah T.

I'm glad you brought this up, Nengah. Especially on the heels of the Carolina Panthers' surprising release of starting nose tackle Marquan McCall.

With starters like Derrick Brown and Shy Tuttle out last week, Raequan Williams got more playing time than a lot would expect from someone who a few weeks ago was a major question mark as to whether he was simply a camp body or not. To the excitement of everyone, last Friday night turned out to be a positive outcome.

The former undrafted free agent out of Michigan State made the most of his playing time against the New York Giants. I was impressed with some of the power and quickness he displayed against the starting five offensive line. He displayed a nice long arm at one point in the game's first series and got into the lap of quarterback Daniel Jones.

Williams finished the game with four tackles, one sack, one tackle-for-loss, and two quarterback hits. His stock is all the way up heading into a very important final preseason game.

Is he the starting nose tackle now for this defense? That is a broad question I won't get into right now, but Williams has increased his odds of making the initial 53-man roster next week.

However, that doesn't mean he will be on the field in Week 1. The Panthers could hit the wavier wire to find a potential nose tackle to rotate in for certain situations defensively.