There have been a some comments over the last few days about by last position analysis post on defensive ends. Just to clarify, in that post I was looking at the defensive end position for the Panthers, not the entire line, that’s why I had such a high grade. So, I’m going to combine both the defensive tackle and defensive end positions and give an overall defensive line grade.

With that horrible 23 sack performance last season, General Manager Marty Hurney and Head Coach John Fox, were faced with overhauling the defensive line. I wouldn’t say it was a big overhaul, but they made some definite changes. First, they traded Kris Jenkins to the Jets, leaving a big hole in the DT slot. With Jenkins gone, last year’s backup Damione Lewis was left to fill the hole. Lewis has been in the league for eight seasons and hasn’t exactly lived up to the slot the Rams drafted him (No. 12 in 2001). Lewis has shown some bright spots, but there will be some questions as to how he will perform next season. Lewis will start along side big Maake Kemoeatu, and will look to both pass rush and stop the run. With the two guys Carolina has starting, Kemoeatu will be the big physical presence on the defense (he’s 6-5 and weighs 345), while the smaller Lewis (6-2, 301) will look to put pressure on opposing defenses. This combination means that the Panthers should be able to put some pressure on opposing quarterbacks, unlike last season where they had two run stuffers in Jenkins and Kemoeatu.

My original post on the Defensive Tackle Position

Now looking at DE, we all know that Peppers had a really bad season last year, and I wrote a few weeks ago that I thought the Panthers shouldn’t extend his contract just yet, but the Panthers seem to think that Peppers is going to be fine. The Panthers are in contract negotiations with Peppers and his agent, and last season’s performance is supposedly a non issue. Everything (trying to resign him, not going out and getting a big name DE in the draft or FA) points to the fact that whatever came over Peppers last season won’t happen again, and he will be back to normal in 2008.

With Peppers switching to the right side to fill the void left by Mike Rucker, second year man Charles Johnson will battle with FA Tyler Brayton, and Stanley McClover. Johnson appears to have the edge right now, and if he starts, he will be an improvement-probably not much though- over the Mike Rucker of 2007 (33 years old, Rucker had knee surgery in 2006 and just wasn’t the same in 2007). Brayton and McClover, along with Hilee Taylor, a seventh rounder from April’s draft, will be able to add sufficient depth at the position as well.

My original post on the Defensive End Position.

So with all of these changes, the Panthers will have only one player starting the same position as last season on the defensive line. By far the line is the biggest question mark for the Panthers next season, but they appear to be moving in the right direction, starting the smaller Lewis and the younger Johnson.

Overall Line Grade: B- (assuming Peppers is back to normal)

Tags: defensive, line analysis, panthers, Position Analysis