The Panthers open camp with another first this season -- every member of the starting offensive line is a Carolina draft pick.
Carolina’s offensive line is one of the best in the league and could have as many as four players in Pro Bowl contention this season.
Left tackle Jordan Gross, fresh off a broken right ankle last November, is the most heralded of the bunch. Gross, who was Carolina’s first round pick in 2003, enters his eighth NFL season. He, John Kasay and Steve Smith are the only players on the current roster that played in Super Bowl XXXVIII.
Travelle Wharton is the team’s versatile left guard. Wharton is one of the better guards in the league, and is able to play four out of the five positions along the line. Entering his seventh season, look for Wharton to get some Pro Bowl buzz this upcoming year.
The Panthers have one of the best young centers in the league in Ryan Kalil. Kalil will look to head to his second straight Pro Bowl this season after a great 2009 campaign. A great signal caller, Kalil was one of the key ingredients to the Panthers’ potent rushing attack last season.
Left guard is the one position up for grabs in camp. 2008 seventh round pick Mackenzy Bernadeau played well in Keydrick Vincent’s absence last season, and is the favorite to land the starting gig. Oklahoma standout Duke Robinson enters his second season and has perhaps the biggest ceiling out of the bunch. T/G Geoff Schwartz played some guard during OTA’s this spring and summer, but is thought of as more of a tackle than a guard.
One of the best right tackles in the NFC, Jeff Otah rounds out the crew. If Otah can stay healthy -- something he’s battled the last two seasons -- he could be worthy of his first trip to the Pro Bowl. The athleticism he possesses is rare for a man his size. They’ll need him to be successful in the running game.
Tackles Rob Petitti and Garry Williams are players the coaching staff likes, and could round out the squad with Schwartz and Robinson.
Having such a talented and versatile crew is no accident. Each of the projected starters were Panther draft picks. Gross and Otah were first rounders, Kalil was drafted in the second, Wharton in the third and Bernadeau in the seventh. Two of their top backups, Robinson and Schwartz, were drafted in the later rounds and were seen as projects with potential.
Quarterbacks Matt Moore, Jimmy Clausen, Hunter Cantwell and Tony Pike will benefit by playing behind a solid offensive line that will not only give them time to make sound decisions but allow the running game to thrive -- taking a lot of pressure off their shoulders as they learn to be NFL quarterbacks.
Comments