For my next position analysis, I’m going to look at the linebackers that Carolina has. Coming into the off-season, the linebacker core did need some work, and after all the pickups over the off-season I would say that linebacker is definitely the strongest position on the roster.

Number of Linebackers: 12 (before the final 53 man roster cut)

Probable starters: Thomas Davis (OLB), John Beason (MLB), Landon Johnson (ILB)

With Dan Morgan going down with an Achilles injury last season, and again not being able to finish an entire season, Jon Beason being pushed into the starting role at middle linebacker Carolina’s defense looked to be in big trouble. But Beason held his own. In fact he did more than hold his own, he outplayed his fellow linebackers, racking up a club record 140 tackles in less than 16 starts. With Beason playing much better than expected, and clearly showing the ability to replace Dan Morgan, Carolina promptly cut Morgan and the beginning of the off-season (and in my mind it came way too late). Beason has shown that he can play at the level the Morgan had done the previous six seasons with Carolina. He has all the instincts needed and plenty of aggressiveness to go with them.

After dropping Morgan and freeing up some much needed salary cap space, the Panthers then went and picked up Landon Johnson from Cincinnati. The 6-2 232 pound Johnson is quick and slender, and does lack some power, but seems to be a good addition to Carolina’s defense. While he did play middle linebacker last season for the Bengal’s, he is best suited for weak side, and I believe that he will come in and start at inside linebacker, moving last years starter Thomas Davis over to strong side. All of this is up for grabs come training camp, but his would seem to be the best option for Carolina. So Carolina has Jon Beason, the quarterback of the defense, the quick and speedy Johnson at weak side, and Thomas Davis the body rocker at strong side. I think that they have a great combination of abilities with this line up, and cold really start to make wide receivers think twice before going across the middle.

So with the pickup of Johnson Carolina has at least four proven starters at linebacker, but it gets better. In the third round of April’s Draft Carolina also picked up a linebacker, from linebacker U no less: Dan Connor. It is not that Carolina still feels they need help at linebacker, they really did look good with the pick up of Johnson, but they just couldn’t pass up. ESPN’s Mel Kiper hailed Carolina’s pick in Connor since Connor was projected to go much higher than the third round, and he was a great steal where he was drafted. Connor now adds tremendous depth at linebacker, being able to back up either the ILB or MLB position. Carolina will go into this years training camp with some good competition at linebacker. We’ll have to see what comes out of it, but whoever ends up starting; there will be plenty of depth behind them.

Overall Position Grade: A-

Tags: Caorlina, Linebacker, Position Analysis