Carolina Panthers: Previewing New Orleans
The Carolina Panthers get to play all the usual suspects in the NFC South. We start by looking at the New Orleans Saints.
Former Carolina Panthers safety Roman Harper signed back with his first team, the New Orleans Saints earlier this week. If the Panthers signed Harper hoping for a little information on Drew Brees then you can bet the Saints will be asking Harper what he knows about Cam Newton and the Panthers defense.
After all, New Orleans was supposed to be the team that took down the Panthers’ chance at a NFC South three peat last year. They even played two good games against Carolina but things fell apart on the Saints hard.
They traded away tight end Jimmy Graham for center Max Unger and more pass protection. Graham’s replacement Ben Watson came on in about mid-season after quarterback Drew Brees came back from injury. Then Watson left for bigger money in free agency. Long time stalwart receiver Marques Colston was not brought back.
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That means that Brees will try to make the magic work this year with speed guy Brandin Cooks, rookie Michael Thomas, and tight end Coby Fleener. This marks a new day for the Saints since none of those guys were around for their Super Bowl win seven years ago.
Mark Ingram will continue to anchor the running game while being assisted by C.J. Spiller. Will Spiller stay healthy this time around? Hard to say, but the Saints hope he can fill a void left vacant by Darren Sproles when he left years ago.
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The Saints defense will need to improve as well. The Saints made two big additions to strengthen the middle of their defensive line. They brought in Nick Fairley and drafted rookie Sheldon Rankins. Both additions have to be nods to the Panthers and their desire to run the ball although Atlanta and Tampa have important run games as well.
In the secondary, the Saints hope that Jairus Byrd will return to form to anchor that back line. They now have Harper to help him do that.
The Saints are holding a kicking competition between Kai Forbath and twice former Tampa Bay kicker Connor Barth. It’s always a little dangerous to go into a season not knowing exactly who your kicker is.
That is the picture of the Saints right now. The Panthers will play them twice this season and at least one of those games will be Brees trying to see just how good and ready our young cornerbacks will be. Hopefully the Panthers will be able to keep track of Fleener and keep the chance of a shootout to a minimum.