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The New and Improved Offense: The Offensive Line


MHS831
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3 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

 

Expected OL Roster:  (No more than 9 on 53; Possibly Raym, Jensen, DiRenzo, and Lee to Practice Squad because Cade Mays, Bradey Christensen can back up multiple positions and Nijman can  play both LT and RT.)  I could see them carrying as few as 8 OL on the active roster)

  • LT Taylor Moton, Yosh Nijman (2)
  • LG Damien Lewis, Brady Christensen, (2)
  • C Austin Corbett, Andrew Raym (Christensen, Mays)  (2)
  • RG Robert Hunt, Chandler Zavala, Nash Jensen (2)
  • RT Taylor Moton (Nijman, Christensen) (1)

 

Moton at both left and right tackles? Bold AND daring.

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Gosh, I hope you're right. Having a first rate O-line is something we haven't had since, well, maybe 2005-ish. If they can just give the little guy a fighting chance, we could see what he can do. And if we could also get that running game going because of it... It might be fun to watch the games again.

Right now, everything is just on paper. I hope it plays out well. I'm not needing much here, but just breaking even would be such a big step.

It all begins in the trenches and I think we've spent well on the O-line. Time will show I guess. Coaching changes were needed, but as we've seen so many times before, new doesn't always guarantee improvement.

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It’d be nice if the change in scheme and coaching could make Mays, and/or Zavala serviceable linemen or depth. I’m excited to see Icky establish himself and be successful- I’m hoping these changes payoff- our wagons are hitched to these guys this year.

Edited by Iceup
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Some other tidbits regarding the OL improving:

  • The Panthers played 10 different guards last season, started 9. The average pass blocking PFF grade for that group was 36.6.
  • Only two Panthers' iOL had pass blocking grades that were over 50 (Brady Christensen (51.4) and Calvin Throckmorton (57.8)) while they had just as many with sub-10 grades (Chandler Zavala (7.1) and JD DiRenzo (8.1)).
  • Of the ten different guards that the Panthers played last year, only one player took more than 500 snaps and that was Throckmorton who was cut mid-season. Four players had sub-100 snaps (Christensen, DiRenzo, Brett Toth, Justin McCray). Meanwhile, Robert Hunt logged 608 snaps and Damien Lewis logged 926. Sustaining a healthy OL will be vital for the unit as it tries to gel. The Panthers with the highest snap counts were the aforementioned Throckmorton (564), Cade Mays (434), Chandler Zavala (374), and Nash Jensen (302). 
  • Cade Mays was the highest graded guard for the Panthers last season with a PFF grade of 58.3. Gabe Jackson was next with 58.1 and he only played 194 snaps. Both of these players also struggled in pass blocking (Mays 43.0, Jackson 48.9) compared to run blocking (Mays 71.2, Jackson 63.1). Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis' overall grades? 76.4 and 59.6, respectively. With no snap minimum, the Panthers essentially went from a tandem with the #64 & #66 best PFF grades to #7 & #55.
  • Hunt (74.4) and Lewis (63.0) both had better pass blocking grades last season than any player on the Panthers roster. Throckmorton (57.8) was the closest. Run-blocking wise, only two players had better grades than Lewis (57.9) and those were Mays (71.2) and Jackson (63.1). Hunt (74.7) had a higher grade than all of them.
  • Chandler Zavala was at the bottom in nearly every category except for one where just one player performed worse: run blocking. Zavala's 41.5 was higher than Nash Jensen's 38.6.
Edited by Icege
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2 hours ago, PNW_PantherMan said:

I'm most interested to see how Icky does.  He should be in a much better situation and hopefully asked to play to his strengths.  Bryce is overshadowing everything but this is really a make or break year for Icky.

Great post OP

Yep byce has everyone attention, but like you said its a make or break year for ICky too. I'd even toss in Horn too, soooo many issues on this team.

I have the worst feeling that starting 2025, panthers will need 2 edges/OLB/DEs, 1 LT, starting QB, #1 CB, MLB, and #1 TE.......no wonder they didn't score over 20 more than 4 times.....its bad.

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15 minutes ago, ForJimmy said:

This is really what needs to be highlighted. Yeah we were not dead last in total OL ranking because Moton was solid and Icky was streaky. However the OG play was so terrible the offense couldn’t function. 

I watched the games and seen the replays, about 40-50% of time young was running for his life after each snap. It was truly bad for the run game as well. Still they didn't improve or try too.....they even cut the best OG thundercock for whatever reasons. You should never invest that much in a QB if the OL didn't have answers to problems. Seems they thought Colbert missing the first six games could be worked around, but chirst when down before halftime week 1 and they never found a solution until Gabe Jackson late season. Just no depth. 

*But I honestly feel the best current overall unit is the OL and the depth should be decent-good too. Who knows maybe Dan can even trade a couple OLmen for help else where. I feel chirst is worth a late rounder at min. I do have center questions and my fav FA looks to be signing with Seahawks....ugh//

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On 7/24/2024 at 7:25 AM, Khyber53 said:

Gosh, I hope you're right. Having a first rate O-line is something we haven't had since, well, maybe 2005-ish. If they can just give the little guy a fighting chance, we could see what he can do. And if we could also get that running game going because of it... It might be fun to watch the games again.

Right now, everything is just on paper. I hope it plays out well. I'm not needing much here, but just breaking even would be such a big step.

It all begins in the trenches and I think we've spent well on the O-line. Time will show I guess. Coaching changes were needed, but as we've seen so many times before, new doesn't always guarantee improvement.

I still don’t get why the 2014-2017 OL is so dissed. When 4 starters have gone to pro bowls or been selected to all pro teams, you’d think that they would get some credit. Our interior OL was as good as anyone’s. In 2015, we were ranked top 2 or 3 just behind the Cowboys. I know LT is a sticking point in here but I’d take the actual 2014-2017 OL over the “potential” of this OL every day of the week. I hope this one ends up being good but I feel like the 2014-2017 OL is completely ignore in here even though it was ranked really high. If it weren’t for all the damn 2016 injuries, that OL leads us to four straight playoff appearances.

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