SPARTANBURG, S.C. — There was a team that will obviously make the NFL playoffs striding confidently around the practice fields Wednesday at Wofford College.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the Carolina Panthers.
The Baltimore Ravens’ visit to Spartanburg for two days of joint practices with Carolina puts into sharp relief how far these Panthers still have to go to get admission beyond the velvet ropes and into the NFL elite. And that’s a good thing — it’s better to know now than later.
When you watched Lamar Jackson throw one dart after another to his open wide receivers Wednesday — that’s what an NFL offense should look like.
When you watched Sam Darnold throw mostly safe passes to a bunch of wide receivers who struggled to get open and sometimes dropped the ball when they did — that’s not what an NFL offense should look like.
On the positive side, the Panthers’ offensive and defensive lines acquitted themselves well against a physical Baltimore team. Brian Burns made another big play, causing a fumble. Christian McCaffrey carved lines in the grass like an Olympic skier.
Still, the Panthers have a long way to go, and where that’s most obvious is when the two teams played their second- and third-teamers against each other Wednesday. And you need the second- and third-teamers in every NFL season, because more than half your starters will get hurt at some point.
I asked Panthers first-year GM Scott Fitterer on Wednesday what the biggest difference between Baltimore and Carolina is right now.
“You really see it on the depth,” Fitterer said, calling the Ravens a “stacked” team at all positions. “... I think we have a lot of really good high-end guys. But as we build this roster (spots 25-53) — that’s the area (of need).”
How long does that take?
“It could take a couple of years,” Fitterer said. “But I think we’re trying to speed that up by bringing guys through all the time and picking over the waiver wire. I think the 53-man cut this year will help (because other, better teams will have to cut players who might make the Panthers squad). You know, we have good players on our depth (chart) right now. But as you saw, those guys are stacked.”
Yes, Baltimore’s talent pool is far deeper than Carolina’s.
The Ravens have rolled to a 35-13 record over the past three years in the regular season and made the playoffs every time. Jackson was the unanimous NFL MVP in 2019. Despite recently missing the first 10 days of Baltimore’s training camp due to testing positive for COVID-19 for the second time in eight months, he looks like one of the league’s best players again. (Now if he’ll just go ahead and get vaccinated — 91.7% of NFL players already have had at least one dose, but Jackson has been noncommital).
“Lamar is slinging the rock like he didn’t have those 10 days off,” Baltimore tight end Mark Andrews said after Wednesday’s joint practice.
The Panthers, meanwhile, have limped to a 17-31 record the past three years and missed the playoffs every time. They tore the team down last year and are rebuilding it now in coach Matt Rhule’s second season and Fitterer’s first. But as you’ve heard, building supplies are sometimes hard to come by these days, and they can be expensive when you can find them.
As for Darnold, we haven’t seen him in a real preseason game yet, but Wednesday the passing game looked very iffy. A lot of it wasn’t his fault — Robby Anderson (hamstring) missed practice, and the other receivers let a lot of balls hit the ground.
Still, when you listen to Rhule talk about Darnold and his backups, you realize that Carolina just is in a far different place with its passing game at the moment than the Ravens, or any other team with a proven high-end starter.
Of his quarterbacks, Rhule said: “You’re gonna throw some interceptions in football, right? But every day we don’t throw a silly, ‘Hey, I’m gonna try to make a play’ interception, that’s a positive for me.”
Of his receivers, Rhule said sarcastically: “A little sun out here today and we’re a little tired, feeling a little sorry for ourselves. I told some of our young guys: ‘You know you don’t get to like all the Instagram posts and then come out here and not practice well.’ ”
As for Darnold, the best move early this season is going to be to target McCaffrey a dozen times a game as a receiver. No. 22 will get you out of a lot of holes on his own, which is good, because the Panthers are going to dig a number of them in 2021.
