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6 players on the roster bubble due to OL Situation - will be interesting to watch Fri night

KB_fan

By KB_fan,
in Carolina Panthers

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So, anyone following my recent comments here, or on Twitter, will recognize that I love playing with roster math this time of year...

Obviously, it's still too early to know how things will shake out, but as I looked at the roster today and continued to think about how the injuries at Offensive Line will affect the roster, I came up with this list of 6 players I think who are very much on the bubble, whose chances to make the 53 are very adversely affected by the Oline situation.

Note: My assumption for this article is that Panthers initial 53 man roster on day 1 will include 11 OL players:

  • Moton, Van Roten, R Kalil, Turner, Sirles  - starters
  • Larsen, Clausell, Mahon - backups
  • Willliams, Silatolu, Matt Kalil - injured guys we hope can play at some point in the season.  Timetable for return still unclear.

This could change if we find someone on waivers or if any of the injured guys could be ready to play for week 1 or 2, but for now I don't see any way we start with fewer than 11 guys on OL.  We just can't afford to expose guys like Clausell and Mahon to waivers when right now they are our primary backups on the line.  

In a normal year we would probably have 9 OL guys on the 53.  Keeping 11 guys leaves room for another 14-15 guys on offense and then 24 or 25 guys on defense.

Here are the guys I'll be watching closely the rest of the preseason, seeing if they can flash enough to make the roster.  As it stands now, I think all are at risk of not being on the starting 53 even though I would imagine that they are all players the team likes and would have liked to keep if roster math permitted.

On OFFENSE:

1. Damiere Byrd:  It's looking less and less likely that the team is going to be able to start the season with 6 WR on the roster.  Not only will we be keeping extra O line guys, but the team may want to feature blockers on the offense who can help the Oline in pass pro.  Byrd could be a casualty.  I honestly wonder if he could be someone we'd possibly trade as I think he has some value, having flashed his speed last season and being named ST player of the week following his 103 yard kick return TD.

2. Cameron Artis-Payne:   In an ideal world, I'm sure the Panthers would like to keep him around and keep 4 RBs & Armah on the roster.  He knows the offense and he can run with power.  But right now his 1.6 yards / carry looks terrible and he is being outshone by Kenjon Barner.  In a tight numbers game, CAP is at risk.  One possibility is that we cut him and he's not picked up by any team and we can bring him back once the Oline situation stabilizes.

3. Chris Manhertz:  The situation with Manhertz is pretty fluid at the moment.  One can be sure with our Oline woes the team would like to keep 3 Tight Ends on the 53.  But with Manhertz on the PUP list and no timetable for his return yet certain, and him not having practiced at all in camp, if I were the GM, I don't know that I'd want to count on Manhertz being ready to go early in the season.  One possibility, as odd as it may sound, is to start the season with only 2 TE on the roster (and Armah who has been taking a lot of snaps with the TEs).  In this scenario, Manhertz would be kept on the PUP, and then be eligible to come back to the team in 6 weeks if healthy.  (This does NOT count as one of the 2 IR/designated return players, the PUP llst is separate).  I think in the interest of roster math the team is going to keep Manhertz on the PUP.  But it's a risk starting with only 2 TEs.  There is also a chance the team could find a good blockingTE they like on waivers, which would really put Manhertz on the bubble instead of just sidelining him for the first weeks of the season.

 

On DEFENSE:

It's not only guys on the offense who are threatened by the need to overload the 53 man roster with OL players due to the injuries and uncertain return timetables for 3 OL "starters."  There is a very real possibility that in order to compensate for keeping 2-3 extra players on the Oline that Marty and Ron could skimp a bit on the defensive side of the ball, keeping only 24 players on defense on the initial 53.  

Ironically, given the Panthers weakness at secondary, I think it's actually the DBs who are at greatest risk of being negatively impacted by the Oline situation.  Carolina's heavy use of rotation on the Dline makes it very hard to skimp on the Dline, and the situation at LB is actually helped by TD's suspension.  The Panthers get to keep 6 LBs to start the season, NOT INCLUDING TD.  So presumably plenty of room to begin the season for guys like Jacobs, Norris and Jermaine Carter.  A tough decision at LB may have to come later when TD comes back from suspension, but to start the season, there's room for 6 LBs.

If we assume that we'll keep 9 guys on the Dline (Pep, Mario, Horton, and 2 of Haynes/Hall/Cox/Obada + the 4 DTs) and 6 LBs, that might leave room for only 9 DBs, presumably 4 safeties & 5 CBs,  So who's on the bubble for the defense?

 

1 & 2:  Two CBs from the trio of Seymour / Doss / Gunter.  [Doss & Gunter] -  If Bradberry, Jackson & Munneryln are locks, and Elder is looking very solid, that leaves only 1 open spot if the team only starts with 5 CBs on the roster.  Right now I'd have to give the edge to make the 53 to Seymour since he played in all 16 games for the Panthers last season.  Doss and Gunter are going to have to ball out if they want a shot.

 

2  Dezmen Southward:  Right now the leaders to secure the 4 safety spots on the roster are Adams, Searcy, Gaulden and Colin Jones.  Demetrious Cox probably can be stashed on the practice squad.  That leaves Dezmen Southward at high risk of not making the roster.  He played pretty well versus the Dolphins, so this could be a hard cut.  

 

So there you have it:  Byrd, CAP, Manhertz, Doss, Gunter, Southward... all guys who were already going to have an uphill fight to make the roster, all of whom have some case to justify their making it, but all of whom are now pretty seriously threatened by the difficult situation the team is facing on the Oline.

Agree?  Disagree?  

In any case, these are 6 guys I'll be watching closely the remainder of the preseason.

Who will you be watching?

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MHS831 Grand Master

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3 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I'm honestly more curious what OL players may be on the bubble for teams like the Eagles, Cowboys, Steelers, etc. that have good OLs.

If I got cut and wanted a chance at OT, Carolina would look pretty good.

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9 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I'm honestly more curious what OL players may be on the bubble for teams like the Eagles, Cowboys, Steelers, etc. that have good OLs.

Agree with you!  I just have NO idea....  hopefully someone else who watches other teams and pays attention to OL has some idea.

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7 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

Pretty close--I want Doss, but I see RR going with Gunter--however, Seymour could be a bubble boy as well.

Yeah, I agree that any 3 of these guys could conceivably win the spot.  I went with Seymour given that he played for us 16 games last year.  But his performance has been shaky, so Doss or Gunter could possibly beat him out, or perhaps we find some way to keep 6 CBs...

Cap $$$ could also come into play.  I've not looked at salaries at all in terms of determining who's on the bubble.

Then there's also the question of practice squad eligibility.  I haven't verified, but I believe that most of the 6 guys I've listed wouldn't be eligible for the PS this season....

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TheCasillas Grand Master

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15 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I'm honestly more curious what OL players may be on the bubble for teams like the Eagles, Cowboys, Steelers, etc. that have good OLs.

That cowboys 2nd string o line is pretty bad. I’ve watched all the preseason games and what i saw from that line is scary bad.

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13 minutes ago, stbugs said:

Just release Amini.

I already wrote in another thread that this is something I would very strongly consider.  Obviously what the team decides will depend on his recovery / prognosis and how guys like Van Roten, Clausell and Mahon play.

Amini *might* be a better backup than Clausell, for instance...  Maybe we keep him as depth and release a guy like Clausell, but with Amini's injury history, I'd find that risky.

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7 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

We think both 7th round LB's gonna make it?

I think our two 7th rounders were a DT and LB:

I think DT  Norton gets put on t he PS if he clears waivers.

I think LB  Andre Smith also will either be put on PS, or possibly redshirted on the IR given his hamstring injury.

5th round LB Jermaine Carter is making the 53, I'm pretty certain

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