Panthers coach Matt Rhule spoke with the media following today’s training camp practice, which consisted mostly of team drills inside the bubble.
Here are seven takeaways from Rhule’s Monday press conference.
A long post-scrimmage personnel evaluation
On Saturday, the team tried to get a taste of real NFL action by holding a scrimmage inside Bank of America Stadium. Teddy Bridgewater reportedly got off to a hot start and finished with a strong line. Christian McCaffrey was pulled early, as were several other important veterans on defense.
When it was over, Rhule says he and his staff spent seven-eight hours evaluating the personnel.
Rhule said he and his staff spent 7-8 hrs after the scrimmage Sat. evaluating personnel.
— Joe Person (@josephperson) August 24, 2020
The personnel Rhule has been given by general manager Marty Hurney is a mixed bag. There’s only one true elite-level, exceptional talent. There are also several promising young pieces, a couple of reliable veterans and a bunch of reclamation projects who need a strong season to revive their careers.
More artificial crowd noise
One way the Panthers tried to simulate a real-game environment over the weekend was piping in artificial crowd noise at the stadium. Apparently, several teams are planning on trying this out during the season.
The noise continued today. Rhule says he’s trying to get his players adjusted to that possibility once the games begin.
#Panthers pumped crowd noise into the bubble during practice today.
Rhule says they used that Saturday as well as game music to get players adjusted to the potential of artificial noise in stadiums without fans.
— Zach Goins (@zach_goins) August 24, 2020
Some NFL teams will be allowing fans into their stadiums this year, while others will not. This raises all kinds of competitive questions, but Rhule isn’t complaining. When he was asked today, Rhule said it is what it is and that it’s outside of his control.
The outside CB competition
One of the more critical personnel evaluations Rhule needs to make in the next couple weeks is who will start at the outside cornerback spot opposite Donte Jackson.
Rhule says there’s an ongoing competition and mentioned several names in the running, including Corn Elder, Eli Apple, Troy Pride Jr. and T.J. Green.
Matt Rhule says there's a battle going on for the CB spot opposite from Donte Jackson.
Mentions TJ Green, Troy Pride, Eli Apple and Corn Elder – it's an open competition right now.
Panthers home opener is in less than three weeks.
— Josh Klein (@joshkleinrules) August 24, 2020
Apple has the most experience as a starter among these candidates. While he had a brutal 2019 season in coverage, he’s our favorite to win this battle.
Compliments for fourth-round pick
Don’t count the others out, though.
Rhule singled out his team’s fourth-round draft pick Troy Pride Jr. for praise today, saying he likes his ability to line up outside or at the nickel position. He also complimented Pride for his demeanor.
Rhule points to the fact that they have used Pride Jr. in multiple roles, including nickel, as one of the things they like about him. Also referenced his demeanor.
— Alaina Getzenberg (@agetzenberg) August 24, 2020
Pride comes into the NFL with a respectable relative athletic score, highlighted by a strong showing in the 40-yard dash. That speed can potentially help Pride win a job outside, but his size (5-foot-11, 194 pounds) might make him better suited to defend the slot at this level.
‘Leadership will emerge’
No matter who wins the cornerback battle, it’s going to be a young defender filling a critical role for what will be the youngest NFL defense to play in a decade. With so many veterans like Luke Kuechly gone, somebody’s going to have to step up and lead them.
Rhule says Kuechly is a generational talent. However, he’s also sure that leadership will emerge.
Matt Rhule on how players can replace Luke Kuechly: "Luke is a generational talent, so I've told all of our guys on defense to just focus on themselves…As we good at doing our job, I'm sure leadership will emerge. We just have to make sure we're playing our defense…"
— Jonathan M Alexander (@jonmalexander) August 24, 2020
Kuechly’s replacement at middle linebacker is Tahir Whitehead. His previous experience with Rhule in college plus 125 games in the NFL should be valuable for the up-and-comers on this side of the ball.
It’s going to take more than one veteran to fill that void, though.
A good day on defense
For what it’s worth, Rhule thinks today’s practice was a significant step forward, especially for the defense.
Matt Rhule says a couple things he wanted to improve was playing faster and harder, but he thought he saw that today.
— Alaina Getzenberg (@agetzenberg) August 24, 2020
Rhule says he thinks today was a significant step forward for the defense.
— Joe Person (@josephperson) August 24, 2020
There are some promising talents on defense. Most notably, Brian Burns, Jeremy Chinn and Derrick Brown could all potentially turn into something special. Odds are this is going to be a rough, learning-experience kind of season, though.
According to the Athletic, Carolina has the worst defensive unit in the league going into the 2020 season.
Vision of the 53-man roster
Speaking of the 2020 season, this team’s Week 1 matchup with the Raiders is now less than three weeks away. That means it’s almost crunch time for Rhule to make some hard choices and trim this group down.
Coach says he has a vision of what the 53-man roster would look like if the cuts were made today.
Rhule says he has a vision of what the 53-man looks like if they had to make cuts today.
He says the team will continue to have competitive practices to allow constant change, though,
— Zach Goins (@zach_goins) August 24, 2020
Rhule has until September 5 to trim his training camp roster down from 80 to 53 players, or 69 if you include the expanded practice squad.
