2017/2018 Carolina Panthers story line to look for and season preview!

With the 2017-2018 NFL season only three days away I decided to do this Carolina Panthers season preview? Or A look ahead to the Carolina Panthers season or something like that. The Panthers took a step back last season going 6-10 after going 15-1 and making it to Super Bowl 50 in 2015. The Panthers made both some good and bad transitions this offseason. The good was Panthers brought back Julius Peppers and Captain Munnerlyn and in my opinion, the entire draft class was an upgrade for the Panthers, getting two potential play makers in McCaffrey and Samuels, getting one of the best Guards in the draft with Tyler Moton; the Panthers really didn’t miss a step in the draft. The bad was firing former general manager Dave Gettleman which still is minding boggling to me and then hiring former Panthers GM Marty Hurney as Interim General Manager. But fortunately, he has done a decent job so far. Since I got that out of the way let’s get dive into the upcoming season and the key players/story lines to keep a close eye on.  

The key players and storylines to keep a watch for are how will Cam Newton play this season after coming off shoulder surgery and having a disappointing follow-up season after winning MVP in 2015. How will the secondary hold up mainly will James Bradberry improve from an impressive rookie season or will he have a sophomore slump? How will Daryl Worley perform after having a terrible preseason? And will veteran safety Mike Adams who signed with the Panthers this off-season play? Can he still play at a high rate even when he’s getting up there in age? How will KK Short do after agreeing to a 5-year 80.5 million dollar deal this offseason, will he keep playing at a high level? Or will the decline since he got his big contract? Like KK how will defensive tackle Star Lotulelei play with him becoming an unrestricted free-agent after this season? Rounding out the defensive end is Julius Peppers, only signing a one-year deal and some are thinking that he will retire after this season, how will he play? Because he and Charles Johnson will be the anchor for Carolina at defensive end. Switching over to the offense side, the first key line is the offense line. The offense line needs to play like they did in 2015, Cam Newton can’t afford to take hits like he did last year. One certain player, I want to see how offensive tackle Matt Kalil play? Surely, he can be better than Mike Remmers was…right!?  Next up is wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin and Devin Funchess, both coming off a disappointing year last season. Benjamin was great in the preseason but Funchess is still a big question mark for the Panthers. How good will rookie running back Christian McCaffrey be? Lastly, who will win the kicking battle? Graham Gano or rookie Harrison Butker who has shined this preseason while Gano has struggled the past couple seasons. Both are getting trade

Looking at the 2017/2018 schedule (http://www.panthers.com/schedule/schedule.html) the Panthers will play 7 home games and 6 away games. Carolina will face off against 7 teams that had a .500 or better record last season while 4 of those 7 teams making the playoffs and two of them making the Super Bowl. Panthers will have one Monday night game in which they face off against Miami Dolphins and one Thursday night against the Philadelphia Eagles. The games that pop out for me are, 9/17 Buffalo Bills the return of former defensive coordinator Sean McDermott who is now the head coach of the Bills. Going to Boston to on 10/1 to face off against the Super Bowl 51 winners New England Patriots, I hope the Panthers kick their a@% because I just hate Tom Brady. And 11/5 when Atlanta Falcons come to Bank of America Stadium, I’m sure Panthers fans will have a lot of things to say for the Falcons after blowing a 28-3 lead in Super Bowl 51. In an honestly, I believe the Panthers will go 9-6 this season and miss the playoffs. But I do believe Cam Newton will play much better than he did last year and McCaffrey will be very impressive. There are just too many question marks in the secondary and offensive line. I do hope they prove me wrong and oh I don’t know go 15-1 and make the Super Bowl.

That’s my season preview and key players/story lines that I’m going to keep a watch out for this upcoming season. Tell me in the comment section your predictions for the Panthers for this upcoming year and what are you looking forward to this upcoming season as well! Have a great day and make sure to check back here Friday for a weekly news update on the Hornets and Panthers!

Panthers/Hornets new roundup #2

Welcome back to the second edition of Carolina Panthers and Charlotte Hornets news roundup! If this is your first time reading this, all I really do is collects news from the Hornets and Panthers from the past week and give my opinion on such news. So, if that interests you in any way then stick around!

            Let’s get started with the Carolina Panthers who played their fourth and final preseason game of the year Thursday night They lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-14 on a 1-yard run by quarterback Joshua Dobbs with 2-seconds left to play. No starters played for each team, both teams now have less than 48 hours to cut their rosters to the 53-man regular-season roster. The notable to players that got injured was this year second-round pick Curtis Samuel, was had two catches for five yards, limped to the locker room with an ankle injury early in the third quarter, he didn’t return. Second-year cornerback Zach Sanchez hobbled off in the fourth quarter. The three players that shine in my opinion is running back Cameron Artis-Payne who capped an excellent preseason; carried 8 times for 51 yards Thursday night. Wide receiver Damiere Byrd, who caught that touchdown pass from Webb. And third string quarterback Joe Webb who besides a couple passes that he lost control of, has been surprisingly good this preseason. Let’s see what else happened early Thursday Panthers added 2 million dollars in incentives to tight-end Greg Olsen’s contract that will make him the 5^th-highest paid tight-end in the NFL if he meets them. It’s a good middle ground for both parties, Olsen’s got some extra cash if he plays well while the Panthers didn’t have to spend a lot and give out a contract that could potentially hurt them in the long haul. Finally, with the Panthers is that the Panthers are activity shopping punter Andy Lee, Arizona Cardinals the biggest team that’s interested in the punter. Not much else to that story makes sense for Carolina to trade Lee, he’s old and cost a lot for a punter. But if you want to read more there the link: https://www.profootballrumors.com/2017/08/cardinals-interested-in-panthers-punter-andy-lee.

            There isn’t much Charlotte Hornets news…not much NBA news beside the Kyrie Irving trade drama that ended early this week. But according to Hornets head coach Steve Clifford shooting guard-small forward, Jeremy Lamb has really improved this offseason, applied himself this summer as much as any Hornet has. He needs too with rookies Dwayne Bacon and Malik Monk coming and second-year pro-Treveon Graham coming off a fantastic summer league along with returning starters Nic Batum and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. The only other news that is somewhat related to the Hornets is that Milwaukee Bucks waive former Hornet center Spencer Hawes or other known as “Agent Zero”, Charlotte traded him to Milwaukee to get Miles Plumlee, who Charlotte shipped to Atlanta along with Marco Belinelli to get center Dwight Howard.

Well, that’s all the news and rumors for the Charlotte Hornets and Carolina Panthers from the past week. If I miss anything or want to give your opinion on any I reported on tell me in the comment section below! Come back either tomorrow or Sunday for a new post on the key players for the Caroline Panthers this season. Have a good day and make sure to not watch that much college football this weekend😉

Carolina's Flight new logo!