the state of the DL

[PhillyB]

the main point of the thread is to ask the following question:

now that we have - in theory - two very, very good, if not premier, defensive ends in our system, will the defensive line as a whole be bolstered to the point of acceptable play?

last year our pass rush was negated largely by the opposing quarterbacks' ability to simply step up in the pocket. lewis had his moments, as did Kemo, but neither were consistently effective in collapsing the interior. will two beastly rushers make up for this? It could be argued that their collective closing speed will shave time off the QB's decision-making allowance. As we all know, a tenth of a second on any given play can make all the difference in the world.

if not, what can/will be done to improve the defensive tackle position in order to complement a stellar duo of defensive ends?

[nagai]

Hmmmm... not sure if I'm ready to call our DE situation premier, even if you calculate in Taylor and Johnson. I absolutely agree with you on the DT situation. As far as I'm concerned, the addition of Brown still means that the DT's will be single covered. The opponent just can't tell them to block multiple pass rushers with one guy. So what I think will happen will be more TE's, RB's etc. staying in to block so though we'll at least have more guys to cover less threats. In terms of being able to step up though... yeah, don't see that changing atm.

[PhillyB]

Hmmmm... not sure if I'm ready to call our DE situation premier, even if you calculate in Taylor and Johnson.

true... meant assuming pep stays, though, and that brown is solid on the other side (though i think he will be far better than solid.) if pep plays like any of his better years, and brown turns out as well as everyone thinks, our DE situation is better than premier.

[Ashor]

I was hoping we would draft Fili Moala from USC just because of that guy's size. We needed a defensive tackle to complete our defensive line transformation but unfortunately we didn't get one. I hope that our current guys on our roster can fulfill the defensive tackle positions and just play half decent so our pass rush can be dominate. I'm just waiting for training camp to roll around to finally see our defense be set.

[nagai]

I was hoping we would draft Fili Moala from USC just because of that guy's size. We needed a defensive tackle to complete our defensive line transformation but unfortunately we didn't get one. I hope that our current guys on our roster can fulfill the defensive tackle positions and just play half decent so our pass rush can be dominate. I'm just waiting for training camp to roll around to finally see our defense be set.

That's why we drafted Irvin. Whether or not you think he's the answer is up to you, but we did grab a DT to do that in the draft.

[Urrymonster]

Personally I feel that our pass rush DLine would be A OK. On obvious passing situations we can build on what we started last year.

We can have Pep and Brown in the wings, with Johnson and Brayton in the middle. That allows Taylor to sub in with either of the ends and Lewis to sub in with either of the tackles. Third down was a huge problem for us this past year, so I feel that we will have improved and that our success will not hinge on one player playing well.

My major concern is the success we have in first and second downs. If a team comes out balanced or slightly favoring the pass, we will struggle to get consistent pressure on the QB. Our DTs simply are not built for collapsing the pocket quickly and that is where teams will try to exploit us. Whilst Lewis is a good relief guy in passing situations, he does not have the ability to sniff out the pass AND get into the backfield consistently. He either jumps through on a running play and gets levered to one side allowing a big hole or he does not anticipate and get swallowed up.

Whilst I think our DE situation is above average and certainly amongst one of the more ideal DE situations in the league, it is not an above average line due to our pressing needs at DT. We have no genuine talent coming through here either, so whilst our DEs have shown promise, we are stuck relying on Lewis and Kemo to do it all for us.

[DaveThePanther2008]

Kemo may not get many sacks but he is by far our most disruptive DT. He is a huge man that commands alot of attention. I have never felt that our start DT's were ineffective or inadaquate. I think they did a great job. It showed when we lost Kemo for the game again the Giants. It was by far our worst defensive line effort of the season. It coincided with Kemo going out. Our depth and rotation IMO is what we need to bolster.

Go Panthers

[CatMan72]

Everette Brown hasn't played a down in the NFL yet, so it's a little early to categorize him as a premier DE - but if he can play up to expectations and Peppers sticks around then we clearly have a very good pass rush. This DL is just missing a 3 technique DT to penetrate and collapse the pocket which will create more sacks for Brown and Peppers.

[Stickman2]

Does anybody remember how Kris Jenkins did his first year? Was he dominating?

[Frizzy350]

personally id rather see charles johnson start opposing peppers and move tyler brayton into damione lewis' spot. this of course would be out standard set up, and i think could help for our struggle against the run. brayton is big enough to play DT (although barely) is definately a better contain man than lewis is. for straight up passing situations bringing lewis and everette in could lead to a beastly pass rush.

[carpanfan96]

Look for Irvin and Brayton to see some time at DT on passing downs with Peppers and Brown/Taylor/Johnson rotating throughout the game.

So regular downs - DE - Peppers, Johnson, Brown, Brayton, Taylor

DT - Kemo, Lewis, Brayton, Irvin

Passing Downs - DE - Peppers, Brown, Johnson, Taylor

DT - Lewis, Brayton, Irvin

[carpanfan96]

I'll give my Predictions on the Sack Total for the Line

Peppers - 15 sacks

Brown - 8.5 sacks

Johsnon - 10 sacks

Brayton - 3.5 sacks

Lewis - 3.5 sacks

Kemo - 2.0 sacks

Irvin - 3.0 sacks

Total DL - 45.5 sacks

Total Team - 50 sacks

[monstercat]

Personally, I've felt like our starting DT's were fine all along, but just needed more depth behind them. Hopefully they have found that depth with Irvin and/ or one of these UDFA's. I'm still not counting out Gary Gibson and Nick Hayden either.

[panthers55]

The best thing for this line will be a better secondary so that the quarterback holds the ball longer giving the D line time to get there. We had way too many blown coverages and misreads. Wouldn't hurt either for the line and linebacker corp to make sacks when they get an unimpeded path to the quarterback instead of wiffing completely. That happened way too often and led to some big receptions against us.