Nobody talked about the Carolina Panthers as they made their return to the NFC Playoffs after taking a year off. After they fell 31-26 to the New Orleans Saints to get eliminated from the postseason, folks can go right back to forgetting all about them.
But first, we’re going to wrap up their 2017-18 campaign and set up their off-season.
NORV TURNER
If you want to know how weird the 2017 NFL season, just look at all the assistant coaches that have been shitcanned from playoff teams. The Panthers tossed their offensive coordinator on the pyre when Mike Shula was shown the door Tuesday. He’d been the offensive coordinator since 2013, but head coach Ron Rivera wanted to shake up the entire offense. Enter Norv Turner, in what could be either a completely brilliant move that takes quarterback Cam Newton to a whole new level or one that will blow up spectacularly.
Either way, it’ll be fun to watch.
“Norv has coached Hall of Famers, he’s set a lot of people on the career paths that they’ve had,” Rivera said in a statement. “I’m excited about his knowledge and his offensive prowess. It’s going to be invaluable to us have him evaluate our personnel and help take our quarterback to another level.”
If the Panthers were a Michael Bay movie, Norv Turner is the grizzled old guy they find working on transmissions in rural Texas that they beg to come back for one last job.
— Adam Rank (@adamrank) January 11, 2018
Turner shows up to the Panthers’ facility with his kid in tow. Scott Turner will serve as Carolina’s quarterbacks coach. Norv’s brother Ron was already an offensive assistant for the Panthers.
Turner has been out of football for the last year and a half after he stepped down from the offensive coordinator position with the Minnesota Vikings over some kind of problem with Mike Zimmer nobody has yet to spill the beans on. Either way, Turner will bring a different offensive philosophy to Carolina’s offense.
How different will it look? A quick guess is you won’t see any read-option looks (or very few). If Turner does plug those in, it will just be to appease Newton. Turner is the last guy standing out of the Don Coryell coaching tree that included Ernie Zampese, his son Ken, Al Saunders, Joe Gibbs, John Madden and Mike Martz. There are a lot of Super Bowl Champions on that list.
“I came to the conclusion going forward the thing we needed to do was bring in a different perspective, different ideas in terms of going forward to what I believe is our ultimate goal, and that is winning a Super Bowl,” Rivera said. “I think Cam’s got room for improvement. There’s room for growth, and he showed some growth this year and made some big steps.”
When #Panthers coach Ron Rivera fired Mike Shula today, he had a target in mind: Long-time OC Norv Turner, who was out of football last year. Would be an upgrade if that comes together.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 9, 2018
Rivera was Turner’s defensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers for four seasons so the men are old friends.
The Coryell-Turner offense is a vertical passing and power run scheme that can be adapted for a multi-purpose pass-catching back like Christian McCaffrey. Martz did it with Marshall Faulk with the St. Louis Rams, Saunders did it with Priest Holmes for the Kansas City Chiefs and Turner himself did it with LaDanian Tomlinson in San Diego.
CAM NEWTON
Newton was a force and got the Panthers back into the postseason this year. He also posted the second lowest passer rating of his career (80.7). The lowest? Last season’s 75.8. You can see why it’s time to shake things up on offense.
Cam Newton:
•24-for-40, 349 yards
•2 TDs
•105.1 passer rating
•37 rushing yardsThe man did that with just 3 receiving weapons. Don’t tell me Cam doesn’t carry this team. Looking at you @ColinCowherd
— Panthers 24/7 (@Panthers24_7) January 8, 2018
Newton, of all people, should be stoked to see Turner enter the building. He should, maybe for the first time, see receivers running open in complimentary routes by design, not just by talent. If you thought Greg Olsen was a weapon before, just wait until Turner starts drawing up plays. Newton should have more of an opportunity to use his arm, up his completion percentage and keep his rushes to scrambles when available. Those are so much deadlier than designed (or option) quarterback runs.
With his wheels, Newton should always be playing against 10 defenders instead of 11, because the minute a defense doesn’t use a spy, he’ll kill them with his legs. That prospect alone should have Turner running through pencils as I type this.
PENDING FREE AGENTS
There are three guys the Panthers need to focus on bringing back and only one would be tough to replace. Guard Andrew Norwell is a must sign for a team only now building a competent offensive line. Defensive tackle Star Lotulelei’s stats don’t jump out, but he’s started ever game he’s been healthy but one for Carolina since they drafted him in the first round in 2013. He had 25 tackles, 1.5 sacks, one fumble recovery and a pass defense this season.
Panthers biggest free agents this offseason: DE Julius Peppers. All-Pro OG Andrew Norwell & DT Star Lotulelei.
Star wants to be one of the highest paid nose tackles in the league, I say let him go to be real. Hasn’t proved himself for that
via: SteveReedAP— CarolinaMafiaTV (@CarolinaMafiaTV) January 8, 2018
Kicker Graham Gano is a keeper. He led the league, hitting 96.7 percent of his field goals this season and was a perfect 29-for-29 inside the 50 this season. He did miss three extra points.
Backup quarterback Derek Anderson is also in the keeper pile, but he’s probably not a priority.
THE DRAFT
Carolina has its full compliment of picks and opens up day one of the NFL Draft selecting at No. 24 if they make no moves or trades. They have needs, but nothing so glaring they can’t just go ahead and take the best player available that’s not a quarterback or running back.
The great thing about this draft for teams not looking at a quarterback is that I think plenty of QBs are going in the first round. That’ll push elite skill players lower than they’d usually go. Carolina upgraded its offensive line in free agency last off-season, but should still look to go there early in the draft. They could also take a corner or a speedster wide receiver. A defensive end could show up on the card too.
They could be looking at a guy like Connor Williams from Texas, Marcus Davenport from UTSA, Marcell Ateman from Oklahoma State or even Dorian O’Daniel from Clemson, to replace Thomas Davis after he retires.
POTENTIAL FREE AGENT TARGETS
The Panthers, at present, only have $21.36 million in available cap space in 2018 so there’s not a lot of room to move. That means any free agent targets will have to be on the economical variety. As good as Carolina should still be, they shouldn’t have trouble wooing talent that would like to make a trip to the postseason.
A cornerback like Davon House or Kyle Fuller would be a good fit. Eric Decker or Marqise Lee at wideout would be a solid additions.
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