Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule is seemingly quite a stickler on size. So did that cost his team a pillar on their offensive line this past spring?
Perhaps.
Rhule joined Thursday’s episode of The Mack Attack on WFNZ in Charlotte to discuss the Panthers’ tumultuous 2021 campaign. Among the topics covered was Carolina’s choice not to select Northwestern University lineman Rashawn Slater with the eighth overall pick in last year’s draft.
That investment, instead, went to University of South Carolina cornerback Jaycee Horn—who Rhule has no regrets about taking.
“Guys, I’ll be honest, I think Jaycee Horn is going to be a fundamental piece of Carolina’s success for a long time,” he said. “I would take Jaycee Horn again, hate that he got hurt, I’d take him 10 times out of 10.”
To his credit, Horn showed promise in the three games during his rookie campaign. He would, unfortunately, miss the final 14 outings due to a broken foot.
Slater, who could’ve helped plug up one of the worst fronts in the league, would later be scooped by the Los Angeles Chargers with the 13th overall pick. But Rhule, in passing him up, admitted that he viewed the 22-year-old Pro Bowler as a guard.
“That was a harder decision,” he said when asked by host Chris McClain why Slater wasn’t the choice. “Rashawn hadn’t played the year before. He wasn’t ideal tackle size. There was a lot of questions as ‘Hey, is he a guard?’ Same thing with Alijah Vera-Tucker. And it was really ‘Hey, are you gonna take a guy who’s a guard at this number?'”
This isn’t the first time Rhule has publicly questioned, to the dismay of many, an offensive lineman’s size. He also labeled his own guy in Brady Christensen, in fact, as a guard due to what he perceives as less-than-ideal arm length.
On Monday, Rhule’s general manager Scott Fitterer even pushed back a bit on that notion. He stated in his exit interview that Christensen’s compensating factors—his quickness, power and technique—can still get him by as a left tackle at the pro level.
Considering the Panthers already have Taylor Moton on the right side, a hopeful blindside protector in Christensen and a stud defender in Horn—maybe letting Slater pass wasn’t exactly the worst decision of Rhule’s two-year tenure. The larger and overarching issue, however, is his questionable talent evaluation that’s left Carolina’s offensive line—among other spots—in shambles.
