Carolina Panthers: Analyzing 53-man roster cuts for 2018

The Carolina Panthers made a variety of moves over the weekend to get the team down to a roster of 53 players.

We are now less than one week away from the start of the 2018 NFL regular season. Teams have made important moves in order to shore up their units and give them the best chances available to win games this year. The Carolina Panthers have done the same to get down to their final 53-man roster that will be ready to play the first game of the season.

This week, the Panthers traded to bring in one player while releasing 17 on Friday and cutting another 20 on Saturday. Perhaps the biggest name in that group was quarterback, Garrett Gilbert.

As mentioned here on NFL Spin Zone, Gilbert and Taylor Heinicke were locked in a close battle to become Cam Newton’s backup. With Heinicke starting the last game but time being split between three backs, it looked like he had the inside track to win the job. Gilbert’s release confirms that move and is an interesting twist from the narrative in which many expected Gilbert to be the man to take the role once Derek Anderson left. But that was not to be the case.

The Panthers front office made another questionable move when it comes to their offense. A frequently occurring storyline for Carolina is that the team struggles to keep their offensive line intact and healthy throughout the year. Heading into game one the Panthers will keep three linemen on the roster; even though none of them will be available for the opening game of the season.

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Daryl Williams, Matt Kalil and Amini Silatolu were each kept on roster, but all of them are questionable as of now for the first game of the year. Williams seems to be the one that’s closest to being able to play, but his healthy is still up in the air after the MCL injury that saw him get carted off of the field a few weeks ago.

In what Carolina lacks in depth at quarterback, they have plenty at wide receiver. Damiere Byrd remains on the roster which includes the likes of Devin Funchess, DJ Moore, Fred Ross, Curtis Samuel, Torrey Smith and Jarius Wright.

Byrd has experience in this Panthers offense and his speed is an asset that can become a benefit for both the offense and the special teams unit – another place where the Panthers have been mediocre at best in recent years.

Defensively, the biggest name released was Daeshon Hall. Hall, a third-round draft pick in 2017, was injured last year and never found a way to play back into his position. The Panthers are continually looking for ways to refurbish their defensive unit and the released 14 defensive players over the weekend.

Outside of the Panthers linebackers, the defensive unit is the biggest question mark on this team coming into this season and it will be interesting to see how the front office fills the needs on the field.

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The Panthers are welcoming in the Dallas Cowboys to start off their 2018 campaign on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET. With their final roster available there’s a variety of storylines and debates about whether or not the right moves were made for this team. Either way, Game 1 is coming and it’s time to start answering some of these questions the best way possible: on the field.

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