Carolina Panthers: Grading the 2017 passing game
The Carolina Panthers did not perform well through the air in 2017 and there’s a need to add options in this attack.
With Super Bowl LII a few days away, the attention is focused squarely on the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles. As they prepare for the rematch that is more than a decade in the making, other teams throughout the league are looking to retool so they can be in this position in 2019. The Carolina Panthers are among those teams with many questions that need to be answered. One such query is how leadership will retool this passing game that, beyond Cam Newton, looks sparse in depth.
With Newton under center, the Panthers are consistently a middle of the pack team or worse when it comes to airing the ball out. This year, the 3,077 yards earned through the air put the team in the 28th position in the league. Their average of 192 yards per game seats them in the same position. With a dynamic athlete like Newton throwing the ball, it’s still rather amazing to see the team not perform in this area.
In 2016, the unit performed better across the board and that could be attributed to two important weapons being on the field: Greg Olsen and Kelvin Benjamin. In 2017 their absence was felt as Benjamin was traded to the Buffalo Bills in October and Olsen dealt with injuries for most of the season. Even though Benjamin was gone through most of the year his 475 yards are still the third most for any player on this team, behind Devin Funchess and Christian McCaffrey.
When it comes to Funchess and McCaffrey, it will be interesting to see what is next for both of these young athletes.
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Funchess came into his own once Benjamin was traded. Before Benjamin was traded he was averaging 44 yards per game with three touchdowns. After Benjamin was traded and he became the number one target, his stats didn’t explode, but he was importantly consistent as he averaged 60 yards an outing with five touchdowns. Many don’t believe that Funchess is a true No. 1 receiver, so it will be interesting to see if Carolina looks to pick up a high-level player early in the draft as there are a number of options at the wide receiver position.
McCaffrey’s rookie season was mostly covered in the rushing review, but the multi-threat option made an impact in the passing game as well. He led the team in receptions and tied Funchess for the most targets while sitting in the second position with 651 yards and five touchdowns through the air.
As previously mentioned, head coach Ron Rivera is determined to get the ball into McCaffrey’s hands more often and his dynamic abilities make that a sound game plan. He had a strong introduction to the NFL and Panthers fans should expect to see more of McCaffrey, akin to the way that the Eagles used to use Michael Westbrook.
Overall Grade: C-
Next: Grading each 2017 first-round pick after rookie year
The Panthers have some tools to look forward to in the future, but 2017 was not the year were they saw much success through the air. They need to add some depth and playmakers to this aspect of their offense if they are going to be a threat beyond the run game next season.