Carolina Panthers: Training Camp Battles to Watch

Breaking down the Carolina Panthers training camp battles to watch heading into 2024.

Every year there are important positional battles to watch in NFL training camps. For the Carolina Panthers, training camp signifies the beginning of multiple battles as the team looks to improve from their 2-15 record last season. And heading into 2024, these are the training camp battles Carolina Panthers fans will be highlighting this summer.

Defense

When it comes to the defensive side of the ball, the Panthers should be looking at their depth pieces. Should there be any positions that will be a camp battle on defense, it will be at the linebacker position and the secondary.

Linebackers

The Panthers used their third-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on linebacker Trevin Wallace out of Kentucky. Wallace will not be starting Week 1, but expect him to take some rotational snaps. He fits the mold of a classic Day 2 draft pick for the Panthers.

Wallace is an athlete, with a 9.34 Relative Athletic Score (RAS). That means his official numbers from the NFL Combine puts him in the 93rd percentile of all linebackers since 1987. Through his three years at Kentucky, Wallace averaged 4.75 tackles per game. His final year was his best, with 80 tackles and 5.5 sacks. He’s got upside through the roof, but he needs time to learn the NFL game. Wallace will be competing with Shaq Thompson and Josey Jewell for a starting opportunity this season.

Secondary

The Panthers decided to address their secondary this offseason by adding starters and retaining depth players. They brought in both Jordan Fuller and Nick Scott at safety. They also signed CB Dane Jackson and drafted Chau Smith-Wade out of Washington State. The three veteran players are all coming off of their first or second contracts, and still have plenty of tread left on their tires.

Chau Smith-Wade may not be the biggest or fastest corner in this past draft, but he is one of the strongest. He had 54 tackles over his last two years in college. He’ll be a solid depth corner, but I do not expect him to make any meaningful impacts.

Offense

The Panthers used their first two picks in the 2024 draft addressing offensive needs. After trading up into the first round to draft a wide receiver, they followed up in Round 2 by trading for a running back. This move felt similar to the 2020 NFL Draft where the Indianapolis Colts drafted Michael Pittman Jr. No. 34 overall and then moved up to select Jonathan Taylor at No. 42 overall. I’m positive all Panthers fans are hoping these picks work out as well as those two have for the Colts.

Wide Receivers

The Panthers WR group is slowly turning into a good room. After bringing in Adam Thielen and drafting Jonathan Mingo last year, they still had holes. They addressed the first big hole, a separator in the short area. They did this by trading for Diontae Johnson from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Johnson will be their WR1 as he’s proven himself on the NFL field and is still only 27 years old. His 4.4 YAC/REC (Yards After Catch per Reception) shows just how mobile he is and how he fights for every yard. Barring injury, he will be their WR1.

In the draft, Carolina traded up to the last pick of the first round to draft WR Xavier Legette out of South Carolina. While his profile has quite a few red flags, no one can say “he’s not athletic”. He boasts a 9.90 RAS with elite explosion rates and great speed rates. Not to mention his last year of college was impressive, with 77 receptions, 1,255 receiving yards, and seven touchdowns. Legette averaged over 100 yards per game this past year! If he manages to earn his way into the starting lineup with Johnson and Thielen, I’d expect him to be the WR2 on the team this year. He could also be a solid boom or bust player in fantasy football leagues.

Running Backs

The Panthers have a messy running back room at the moment. However, all of that will be figured out by the start of the season. Right now, they have seven RBs on the roster. Yet I’d guess they role into the season with three or four on their 53-man roster. Of them, the likely outcome will be rookie Jonathon Brooks, Chuba Hubbard, and one or two of Miles Sanders, Rashaad Penny, Mike Boone, and Raheem Blackshear. While that may seem confusing, it will likely be Sanders who makes the 53. I expect Penny or Blackshear to be added to their practice squad.

The main question in this backfield is who will be the primary back? That is a harder question to answer.

Last year, Sanders started as the lead back, but was quickly moved to a complementary role by Week 4. Hubbard became the main benefactor of this, seeing his snap share increase from around 35% the first three weeks to 65+% the rest of the way. Hubbard would be the easy answer, but they spent high capital on Brooks in this draft. With that said, Brooks did suffer a major injury last year and has been recovering for most of this summer. If the Panthers are smart, they will ease Brooks in for the first half of the year and have him take over starter duties after their Week 11 Bye.

Conclusion

The Panthers were a team with a lot of holes to fill this offseason. While they continue to push forward in the rebuilding process, they still have plenty to do. This summer, the Carolina Panthers main camp battles will likely revolve around their backup wide receiver positions, the starting running back spot, and their defensive secondary. There will also be interest in seeing how soon some of these rookies will get on the field, and if they look like they will be the long term answers at these positions.