This week, it was confirmed that the Carolina Panthers will have to make do indefinitely without two of their top three cornerbacks.
Top cover guy Josh Norman is a likely first-team All-Pro and an absolute star, but Norman can’t cover two or three receivers at once and you have to wonder if opposing offenses might consider stacking their pass-catchers in order to take advantage of the fact Bené Benwikere and Charles Tillman won’t be on the field.
Sure, the Panthers softened the blow suffered by the loss of Tillman (who has been out since Week 11 due to a knee injury and in fact may have a partially torn ACL) by signing former Pro Bowler Cortland Finnegan last month. But the “retired” Finnegan was out of work for a reason. He was awful last season in Miami and is now on his third team in three years. The 31-year-old might not have much gas left in the tank, and he’s not off to an especially good start (seven receptions on 10 targets).
Benwikere was a solid nickel guy who could chip in as a starter on the outside in a pinch, but he’s now out for the remainder of the year after fracturing his leg in Week 14.
Beyond Norman and Finnegan, the next guy up is probably Teddy Williams, followed by Robert McClain.
Williams has been on six different rosters but has never started a game and has been viewed as a wide receiver as often as a corner. The majority of his career snaps have come on special teams and he never played corner consistently until this year.
McClain is just as much of a journeyman. He’s making his fifth NFL stop and fourth in Carolina and he’s never been a consistent starter in this league. But he’ll likely have to play starter reps the rest of the year in Carolina, especially if opposing offenses use three-receiver sets in order to stretch out an already razor-thin coverage unit.
We tend to go out of our way to find faults with great teams. And the Panthers are still a great team — one capable of winning the Super Bowl. But against high-powered opponents like the Packers, Cardinals, Giants, Redskins and Seahawks in the playoffs, this is a potential issue to keep an eye on.
