Julius Peppers gets brutally honest about Carolina Panthers’ pass rush

The 2024 season will once again be a rebuilding campaign for the Carolina Panthers. After the tire fire that was Frank Reich's only campaign at the helm, Dave Canales will try to take one of the more threadbare rosters in the league and somehow mold it into a competitive outfit.

To help recoup some of the draft capital sent to the Chicago Bears in the Bryce Young deal, the Panthers decided to trade away star pass rusher Brian Burns to the New York Giants. This left a huge hole in their edge rushing room, which could rank as one of the more uneven in the NFL.

Julius Peppers offers damning analysis of Carolina Panthers pass rushers

Panthers legend Julius Peppers, who made a Pro Football Hall of Fame career out of setting the edge and terrorizing quarterbacks in Carolina, knows what it takes to build a unit that strikes fear into the league. In a painfully honest analysis, the generational talent declared Carolina's current group as inadequate.

Peppers openly wished for the Panthers to add more impact players to give this unit more teeth. However, he is a reasonably big fan of the pieces they have now, tepidly implying Carolina can "work with them" as they try to turn themselves into a respectable team.

Carolina, to their credit, has tried to write a big check in the name of fixing their pass rush. Hometown hero Jadeveon Clowney was signed after revitalizing his career with an excellent season with the Baltimore Ravens. D.J. Wonnum parlayed an eight-sack season with the Minnesota Vikings opposite Danielle Hunter into a two-year deal.

The lack of depth may be what ultimately condemns this unit. D.J. Johnson didn't do much during his rookie season after the Panthers traded up to secure his services at No. 80 overall. Former Jacksonville Jaguars first-round pick K'Lavon Chaisson has never had that breakout campaign. Amare Barno is dealing with injuries and is seen more as a special teams ace entering Year 3 of his career.

Clowney and Wonnum are both skilled enough to challenge for double digits in sacks, but they could get overwhelmed with no reliability behind them on the depth chart. In a league where offensive line play is declining, thanks to the CBA limiting helmeted practice time, getting a pass rush can quickly become a one-way ticket to success.

While the play of quarterback Bryce Young will be the factor that will most determine how much success the Panthers have this season, it can be argued the pass rush is right behind him. Let's hope Peppers' initial skepticism about the overall quality of the group is proven wrong and Carolina's defense starts to gel.