Pass rush is still the top concern around the Carolinas
Free agency has largely quieted down, the draft is only a couple weeks away, and very little is new for the Carolina Panthers. Sure, they signed a host of new defenders and have bolstered the roster on that side of the ball from top to bottom, but fans in the Carolinas are still not satisfied with the Panthers’ stable of pass rushers.
Last week we asked y’all where the team’s priorities should lie after free agency and an overwhelming majority of you think that edge rushers need to be at the top of Dan Morgan’s to do list. We asked this question two different ways at the end of February and at the beginning of March and y’all had largely the same opinions then.
The Panthers signed a handful of defensive linemen to upgrade the talent level in the trenches, but they only brought home one pass rushing specialists, Pat Jones II.
Jones certainly upgrades the rotation headlined by D.J. Wonnum and Jadaveon Clowney, but the group is still lacking a true game-changing talent. Fans clearly want more, and the front office is on the same track.
The Panthers’ pre-draft visits have edge defenders tied second for most visits by position group to date. There is a lot of gamesmanship in these visits as teams try to throw other teams off of their real interests, but the aggregate trends of where the Panthers are looking is usually a reliable indicator of where the team sees its needs.
I think we can safely assume that the Panthers will walk out of the draft having used at least one top 100 pick on an edge.