Cat Scratch Reader - All Posts

The Panthers safety room is a one-trick pony

2025-08-04T10:00:00-04:00

Photo by C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images

Can the safety room that was purposefully built to stop the run handle all other aspects of the position?

While the praise for the Carolina Panthers offseason has been plentiful, there’s one aspect of the team’s roster decisions that continues to confound fans and media alike: what are the Panthers planning to do at the safety position?

Even as the NFL continues its shift towards position-less football, it’s still common for the roster builders across the league to keep to the traditional strong and free safety positions. One player taking the hard-nosed, close to the line of scrimmage enforcer role while the free safety is the playmaking ball hawk who acts as the last line of defense to prevent anyone on the offense from getting on top of the defense.

The Seattle Disconnection

No team exemplified this dynamic more than the Seattle Seahawks of the early 2010s, who had Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor, both arguably the best free and strong safety in the NFL. Panthers Head Coach Dave Canales even had a front row seat to witness their glory as he had to go against it every day at practice as an offensive position coach with the Seahawks.

Despite Canales’ formative years in the NFL being exposed to the Seattle Cover 3 system and the epitome of traditional safety play, he and the rest of the brain trust with the Panthers have seemed to eschew that line of thinking in favor of a more versatile philosophy when it comes to safeties.

By versatile, I mean practically identical skill sets where each player is virtually interchangeable with the others. With multiple offseasons’ worth of opportunities for the Panthers to try and find a traditional free safety, they’ve gone the exact opposite direction. With each version of the roster they continue to forgo diversity and opt towards safeties with increasingly similar skill sets, strengths and weaknesses.

The current build

The Panthers entered the offseason with Demani Richardson as the only safety on the roster. A second year player who started out as a UDFA, Richardson was easily the Panthers most reliable tackler during the back half of the season, posting the team’s highest PFF tackling grade for the season among players with over 50 snaps on defense. When asked to cover, Richardson did seem to struggle much more compared to when he’s given the opportunity to play downhill. This was no more evident than in the 2025 season finale, where Richardson was asked to take on his heaviest coverage assignment of the season. Versus the Atlanta Falcons in the season finale, Richardson played much of the game as the primary nickelback and in 39 snaps in coverage scored a 31.9 coverage grade.

Entering free agency, it was a surprise to no one paying attention that the Panthers had signed a safety for a big money (relative to the rest of the safety market) in Tre’Von Moehrig. Moehrig had a career year in 2024, in no large part to how he was deployed on the Raiders defense. According to PFF, Moehrig played 600 snaps at free safety and 326 in the box in 2023. The next year, his career year, his snaps at free safety dropped down to 361 to allow for him to move closer to the line of scrimmage more often with a jump to 439 snaps inside the box. This shift to allow Moehrig to be closer to the football paid heavy dividends and Moehrig was one of, if not the, best tackling safety in the NFL last year while but was average at his best in coverage.

With both Moehrig and Richardson seemingly have similar paths to success on a defense, it seemed as though the Panthers might finally look to address a need for a ball-hawking safety in the NFL draft. There were options aplenty in the safety class, so in round 4 of the draft no one was surprised they drafted a safety - but which safety they drafted was a shock for some.

The Panthers selected Lathan Ransom, a safety from Ohio State. A tough and tenacious player, Ransom led the entire NCAA safety class in 2024 in PFF’s run defense grade but was in the 29th percentile at coverage grade at free safety.

There is still room for moves, but is there interest?

With other options still available to potentially add a safety whose calling card lay more in their coverage ability, the Panthers have held tight and not added any other safeties outside of undrafted free agency. Returning special teamer Nick Scott, who hasn’t been a highly productive in any aspect when provided opportunities to play defense. The Panthers even brought in Julian Blackmon for a free agent visit, but he left without a contract as the Panthers seemed happy with what they had. Blackmon went unsigned for several more weeks until the NFC South rival New Orleans Saints picked him up.

So here the Panthers are, with just three potential starters at safety. All of whom have found the most success when given the option to play down hill towards the football and have struggled when asked to play significant snaps in coverage. Three players who in their most recent seasons (Richardson and Moehrig in the NFL, Ransom in the NCAA) combined for a total of 4 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles.

As defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero is entering the final year of his contract, this is seemingly his final opportunity to put something together. It’s time to find out if Evero can help the Panthers finally vindicate their unique safety philosophy, or if the continued lack of diversity will be a contributing factor to yet another lackluster defense

2025 Season Opener Countdown: 34 Days to Go

2025-08-04T08:00:00-04:00

Scott Kinser-Imagn Images

We’re counting down the days until the Panthers open up the 2025 season!

There are 34 days left until the start of the Carolina Panthers 2025 schedule, so today’s countdown piece is about number 34 in your program, running back Kay’ron Lynch-Adams.

Before the Panthers

Lynch-Adams began his college career at Rutgers in 2019 and spent two seasons with the Scarlet Knights. His stats over his first two college campaigns were good but not spectacular, rushing for 320 yards with another 120 yards through the air. In 2021 he transferred to UMass and spent two seasons there, including his breakout 2022 campaign in which he rushed for 1,157 yards and 12 touchdowns.

The 5-foot-10, 215-pound running back decided to play a fifth season of college football and transferred in 2023 to Michigan State. Last year he led the Spartans with 649 rushing yards on 133 carries, averaging 4.9 yards per carry. He reportedly forced 47 missed tackles, ranking fifth in the Big Ten.

He declared for the 2025 NFL Draft and went undrafted before signing a deal with the Panthers.

What to expect in his rookie season

Among positions in the NFL where an undrafted rookie free agent can latch on with a team, running back is near the top of the list. Injuries frequently happen at running back and most teams are happy to try to mine diamonds in the rough (read: UDFAs) who can carry the rock while earning the NFL’s version of minimum wage.

Lynch-Adams will be battling for a spot on the depth chart behind incumbent starter Chuba Hubbard and new free agent Rico Dowdle who rushed for 1,079 yards (4.6 YPC) for the Dallas Cowboys last year. Carolina invested a fourth round pick this year in Georgia’s Trevor Etienne, but he’s a rookie just like Lynch-Adams and there isn’t much proven experience elsewhere on the depth chart.

If Lynch-Adams can show well this summer, he’s a candidate to make Carolina’s practice squad. Team’s always need to have depth at running back, and that’s precisely what he is.

The Scratching Post: 8/4-8/8

2025-08-04T06:00:00-04:00

Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s this week’s open thread.

Greetings, internet users. Welcome to The Scratching Post.

Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-football sports, you name it. As long as it’s allowed by the site’s ToS, it’s fair game here.

You know the drill.

This is now an open thread!

2025 Season Opener Countdown: 35 Days to Go

2025-08-03T08:00:00-04:00

Scott Kinser-Imagn Images

We’re counting down the days until the Panthers open up the 2025 season!

There are 35 days left until the first day of the season for the Carolina Panthers. As per usual, we cover the player wearing that number on the current roster. In this case, that player is two players—cornerback Michael Reid and kicker Ryan Fitzgerald.

It’s hard to find a whole lot about Reid. He signed with the Panthers as an undrafted free agent out of South Dakota a few months ago. Prior to that, he spent four seasons at FCS school Monmouth. He was second team all conference while at South Dakota.

Fitzgerald is another undrafted free agent, but he’s a much more likely bet to make the roster. He was one of the more highly ranked kickers in the 2025 class but didn’t have any takers in the draft. He signed with the Panthers shortly after, probably in large part because it looked like a good path to a secure gig. He’s had some ups and downs throughout the offseason and programs and camp, but the team is probably going to try to make them starter if they can.

2025 Season Opener Countdown: 36 Days to Go

2025-08-02T08:00:00-04:00

Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

We’re counting down the days until the Panthers open up the 2025 season!

There are 36 days left until the start of the Carolina Panthers 2025 schedule, so today’s countdown piece is about number 36 in your program, Demani Richardson.

Richardson joined the Panthers as an undrafted free agent out of Texas A&M a couple weeks after the 2024 NFL Draft. He got a lot of burn in the preseason and notched an interception in a win over the Jets. He didn’t make the final roster, but he impressed enough that he earned a spot on the practice squad. His time there was short lived though, and he was elevated to the active roster in late September.

The 24 year old ended up appearing in all 14 games after his debut in Week 4 against the Bengals. He became a regular player down the stretch and started at safety for each of the last three games of the season. He notably improved as he got more experience and ended the season looking like a solid player to have going forward, so much so that he seems like a pretty safe bet to make the final roster this time around.

Tre’von Moehrig is a lock to start at one safety position. The other probably belongs to veteran Nick Scott to start camp, but Richardson has every chance to take that spot as his own. Either way, he should see the field a lot this season.

As funny as this may sound, a strong season by Richardson could elevate him to the best #36 in the history of the Panthers based on Pro Football Reference’s Approximate Value statistic. No one of real historical significance as worn the number in Carolina. Perhaps Richardson can change that.

CSR Weekend Warriors: 8/1-8/3

2025-08-01T18:00:00-04:00

Here’s a fresh weekend open thread just for you.

Feel free to use this thread to hang out over the weekend and chat about whatever you want (just make sure you follow the ToS ... the rules still apply here) with anyone who decides to stick around.

This is now an open thread!

Dave Canales confirms Panthers starters will play in the first two preseason games

2025-08-01T12:45:55-04:00

Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images

The Panthers head coach confirms a major change from last season

Panthers head coach Dave Canales appeared on the Up & Adams show today for an interview, and he ended up answering a question many Panthers fans were wondering about since the start of the preseason:

Dave Canales confirms we’ll see the starters in the Panthers first two preseason games @heykayadams | @Panthers #KeepPounding pic.twitter.com/RyP1NNzHBa
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) August 1, 2025

This is actually a major shift, as last season QB Bryce Young and many of the starters didn’t play at all in the preseason despite the team implementing a new offensive scheme under their brand new head coach. While many thought it made sense to avoid injuries (myself included), Bryce Young and the offense as a whole looked abysmal to start the regular season, to the point that Bryce found himself on the bench come week 3.

Instead, Canales has pivoted, meaning we’ll at least get a few series to see Bryce Young and shiny new wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and others play together before the meaningful football starts. I definitely support the change, though I am scarred by Cam Newton’s preseason injury many moons ago. Sound off below with your thoughts on this change, Panthers fans!

The Panthers are wearing black just four times this season

2025-08-01T12:30:00-04:00

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The team released their jersey schedule for the season and it is rather lacking in color.

The Carolina Panthers released their jersey schedule on Friday, and it’s disappointingly bland.

Week Opponent Jersey color

Week 1 at Jaguars White

Week 2 at Cardinals White

Week 3 vs. Falcons Blue

Week 4 at Patriots White

Week 5 vs. Dolphins White

Week 6 vs. Cowboys Blue

Week 7 at Jets White

Week 8 vs. Bills Blue

Week 9 at Packers White

Week 10 vs. Saints Black

Week 11 at Falcons White

Week 12 at 49ers White

Week 13 vs. Rams Black

Week 14 BYE

Week 15 at Saints White

Week 16 vs. Buccaneers Black

Week 17 vs. Seahawks Black

Week 18 at Buccaneers White

The team has always shied away from wearing black for home games early in the season in attempt to combat the hot early fall days in the Carolinas even though I think that wouldn’t be much of a factor with the current jersey materials. They’ll wear blue for three of their first four home games with the lone exception being a game in white against the Dolphins in Week 5.

In all, they’ll wear white for five of their first seven games. They’ll wear black for their last four home games starting in Week 10.

It’s disappointing for me personally because the black jerseys are my favorite, and I hate that the Panthers wear them so few times each season. They’ve almost been relegated to alternate uniforms at this point.