Obviously the biggest storyline of the last two weeks has been the presence of Jake Delhomme under center for Carolina. With Delhomme back, there seems to be that old air of confidence about the team. Delhomme’s rehab has gone great, and it appears that all the time he had off to work on his physical condition, actually made his arm stronger. Delhomme’s is getting worked off the pitch counts that he was under during minicamp, and has made of number of passes where he has had to putt something on the throw, a sign that Delhomme at least hasn’t lost any arm strength.

Not only has Delhomme’s arm seemed to have healed, but the roster additions from the draft and free agency, also appear to be working out very well, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Panther’s best player, Steve Smith. Smith said Thursday that he thought the Panthers had “finally made an upgrade (offensively)”. It appears that the new roster additions the Head Coach John Fox and General Manager Marty Hurney made are working out so far, at least in Smith eyes.

With a week still left to go, there are still plenty of things each player has work on, but everyone is moving in the right direction. Of course everything looks great now, Delhomme looks healthy, the offensive line looks solid, and the Panthers look like they could again be contenders, but so do the other 31 teams in the league that are just as excited about their new players. The real answers will come during training camp and then the regular season.

Also, Smith had high praise for one free agent pickup in particular: Keydrick Vincent. Smith said that Vincent has looked “outstanding”, which may indicate that Vincent, who was brought in to battle for the right guard position, has the edge right now.

And, if anyone is getting worried about D.J. Hackett’s knee injury, he returned to practice last week. There is really no need to worry because the trainers are using this time to get Hackett healed up, and are just being very cautious.

Jenkins had not been happy the last few years in Carolina, being put on the trading block by the Panthers and constantly struggling to maintain his weight, its obvious that he wanted a fresh start somewhere else. If Jenkins had not been traded, he would still be in the same situation he was in last year. Jenkins is losing weight in New York because he has a fresh start and a new beginning. We’ll have to wait until the season starts to asses whether or not those draft picks were that valuable- they did give Carolina room to trade back into the first round and get Jeff Otah and select Dan Connor in the third round. As for now there is no need to worry, lots of guys go through the same type of thing when they are traded, and Carolina did make good use of the draft picks they acquired as well.

“It felt great, but mentally I was maybe a little rusty,” said Delhomme on Wednesday. “But that’s to be expected. It felt good to be in the huddle and competing again.”

Though Delhomme isn’t 100%, he is right on track to be ready for training camp on July 25th. More than anything, it is good to see Delhomme back in the huddle, not because of his throwing ability, but because of his leadership, something Carolina greatly lacked on both sides of the ball last season. Delhomme seems to be able to inspire his teammates.

“It’s great to have your starting quarterback out there,” Head Coach John Fox said while being interviewed on Wednesday. “He’s not only a good quarterback, he’s the leader of your offense. To see his enthusiasm was a joy to watch. And that’s contagious. It’s different when you don’t have `that’ guy in there. I hope we’ll see the results. It’s been a long time.”

As for now, it looks like Delhomme will be ready to lead the Panthers offense, hopefully into the post season, next year.

Jon Beason was selected 25th overall by the Carolina Panthers in last years NFL draft. He played college ball at the University of Miami. He was born in Miramar, Florida. He is currently 23 years old.

Earlier in his career, Jon Beason played the Fullback position, rushing for 811 and scoring 12 touchdowns his senior year in high school. He accepted an offer to play at the University of Miami. Immediately, he was shifted over to the defensive side of the ball. By the end of his college career, he had racked up 187 tackles, one interception, and 3.5 sacks.

Destination: Carolina

As a rookie for the Panthers, Beason had an immediate impact on the game. He solidified the linebacker group and stepped up as the leader of the defense. He finished the season with 140 tackles, which lead the team.

Onwards

Jon Beason looks to take the momentum he had from last season to the new upcoming season. I predict he will have a similar season to last years, but with fewer tackles. Remember, last year’s defense was not the same Carolina defense we are used to seeing. With improvements made the defense over the off-season, Beason will most likely have less opportunities to make tackles, but more opportunities to make game-changing plays (sacks, interceptions). Hopefully, he will be able to lead the defense to play at a high level this year.

For the past two seasons, Williams has been waiting for his chance to shine. Playing back-up to Deshaun Foster was not easy. It was obvious that he wanted to go out on the field and make some plays as a starter. However, the early role of back-up has helped Williams. He has learned the virtue of patience, something that is essential to have when running. He has also learned to not take his playing time for granted.

In the off-season, the Panthers found that it would be best to part with the dependable Deshaun Foster. In the draft, the Panthers were able to acquire a great and consistent runner in Jonathan Stewart, who fit the mold of a young Stephen Davis.

Now, DeAngelo Williams is the starter. It is his chance to show the coaches why they selected him in the first round. He still has some work to do, but he feels prepared overall. “I know that I have some improvements to make this off-season,” Williams said. “I need to get better at blocking and reading the holes.” This role will feature him the Panthers offense, which likes to have a reliable running game.

Williams will also have to play teacher to the young Jonathan Stewart. It was not long ago that DeShaun Foster was teaching Williams the tricks of the trade, and now Williams will have to pour that knowledge onto the Stewart.

Asked about the possibility of having to share playing time with Stewart, Williams had this to say: “Whether or not Stewart or I will start the game, we will both get about the same number of touches, more or less. Having both of us will keep the defense on its heels.” Having a great attitude like this will definitely promote camaraderie in the locker room.

DeAngelo Williams was solid last season in the back-up role. He carried the ball 144 times for 717 yards. He also had some key receptions during the season. The two running back system the Panthers will run will have both running backs seeing these kinds of numbers.

Down the road, I could see Jonathan Stewart being featured as the team’s number one running back, with DeAngelo coming in on passing downs and after the defense is tired. Stewart would pound the defense down, then Williams would come in and provide a spark. It will be an exciting tandem to watch.

“It was really good. We’ve had an excellent off-season. We’ve got some new guys, some guys we know about like Mushin Muhammad who has come back to us. I feel good about our leadership in there. With some additions, I think we’ve got some new energy.” said Coach Fox on his first impressions of mini-camp.

The highlight of the weekend was Quarterback Jake Delhomme’s first practice since having to undergo Tommy John surgery last October. Delhomme was able to through a real football, upgrading from the Nerf ball he has been using the last seven weeks. Though he was kept on a low pitch count-34 throws to be exact-Delhomme seemed very positive.

“It feels great,” he said. “The rehab has gone great. We have been cautious and haven’t had any setbacks. I was very satisfied today.” This is reassuring to all the Panthers fans who saw Delhomme drop down in agony in the third game against Atlanta, causing any hopes of reaching the playoffs to crumble. Fox even has said that Delhomme’s arm looks “stronger than ever”.

Many people feel that the fate of Carolina’s season rests on the ability of Delhomme to stay healthy, missing a total of 16 games in two seasons. But even if Delhomme’s arm doesn’t hold off there is still promise. Matt Moore who started the last three games of the season went 2-1 in those three games, all of them against playoff teams. Matt Moore showed in those games that he has many of the intangibles needed to be a successful quarterback in the NFL, something David Carr clearly does not have. Coach Fox and Marty Hurney clearly think highly enough of Matt by not signing any veteran quarterback helps in the off-season.

Some other notable happenings over the weekend were Julius Peppers switching from left to right end.

“We’ll try him there a little bit. He might go back to left, but I can’t answer that. He’s a more natural left-handed stance guy.” said Coach Fox.

To put it nicely the Panthers need to do something. Peppers racked up a grand total of 2.5 sacks last year, his career worst by a mile. Some said he had an illness over training camp and he was never able to recover, but I think it may be something more that that, looking all the way back to his 2006 season, while he did compile 13 total sacks that season, 11 of those sacks came in the first nine games of the season. This means that Peppers has gone a total of 25 games recording only 4.5 sacks. Yeah it may be nothing, hopefully it is nothing, but it is possible that last year may have been more than just a bad season. Maybe with the changes that are going to occur in the next few month Peppers can get back to his usual pro bowl level, but we will have to see.

3rd round pick Charles Godfrey was thrown right in with the first team, playing safety. Fox and Hurney clearly want to convert the cornerback (though he started several positions in collage, including safety) into one of the teams two starting safeties.

Rookie Jonathan Stewart did not practice because he is recovering from toe surgery, but his doctors agree that he is on track to be able to start practicing in training camp on July 25.

Stewart said during practice: “It was a little faster, a littler quicker pace than college. It was a little different.”

He will have to wait until the injury heals to play alongside former first round pick De’Angelo Williams. John Fox is hopeful that the two will replace the Deshaun Foster – Stephen Davis tandem that the Panthers rode on through to the Super Bowl.

“It is very frustrating just watching. When you’re a football player, you want to be out there and participating in the drills” said Stewart, “But it is what it is. “‘I’ve got to sit back and watch for awhile.”