Carolina Panthers: The Running Back Issue

The Carolina Panthers rely on the running game to work. What changes need to be made?

The Carolina Panthers beat the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. It was a game that rehashed a familiar Panthers script. The team got ahead by a comfortable margin before halftime. Then the Chargers made adjustments that appeared to have regained them the game. The Panthers tried to give the game away with an unnecessary turnover. All signs pointed to another meltdown.

Then it just did not happen. The defense seized control of the game by picking off Philip Rivers twice in the fourth quarter. Mario Addison had a safety just after a Cam Newton pick six was called back due to the runner being down. The Panthers went for a fourth down conversion to bleed more clock and that was that. They won 28-16.

The key offensive weapon for the Panthers was running back Jonathan Stewart. Stewart grounded out the tough yards to a 4.0 average on the afternoon. His success was more remarkable because he was working behind the league’s second most injured line (the Chargers had the first).

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Stewart is also partially the subject of part 2 of looking at the Panthers for the near future. Stewart is a running back who has some punch. It seems like he had more speed earlier in his career, but he still does his role effectively for the Panthers. If he was given the offensive line he deserves then he would be shrugging off safeties instead of linebackers and defensive linemen.

However Stewart is not ageless. At 29, he is near the invisible wall that running backs hit at thirty. He also has injury issues that pop up every now and then. Whether this will hasten or delay the onset of the wall is yet to be seen.

The point is that the Panthers need to begin targeting the next man up as their workhorse back. Bring him now, let him share carries with Stewart for a couple of years and then take over the main job. Ideally the Panthers would draft said back in the second, third, or fourth round this upcoming year. However if they do not, they need to seriously consider bringing someone in to take some carries.

Cam Newton is the Panthers runner with the most carries after Stewart. That has to change because Newton is going to be moving away from that part of his game as time wears on. Even now we can see the effects of the hits that Cam takes. He has mentioned how the game is less fun and he missed a key game against Tampa.

Fozzi Whittaker is a nice third down and occasional change of pace back, but that is about all he is. If the Panthers were going to inject more carries into Whittaker, they would have done it by now. This suggests that he is not the answer to getting more carries.

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Cameron Artis-Payne might be part of the answer, but it is concerning when he is not marked active for games.

Mike Tolbert serves his role fine as long as he is not fumbling in the Super Bowl. He gives the Panthers another short yardage option and a good receiver in the flat. Tolbert would also benefit from improvement on the offensive line so that he would not have to pass block so much.

Next: Panthers Changes Series #1

The Panthers could work on the fullback position quietly as those guys do not get much notice until they are considered good.