Who Are the Next Men Up on Thursday?

The Panthers injury report is looking like a grocery list in preparation for a Thanksgiving dinner. Multiple players and coaches have stressed a “next man up” mentality. The Panthers are licking their wounds after the loss to the Colts, but some of the ‘next men’ got some run on Sunday afternoon. Let’s take a look at a few snapshots of what to expect from some of the fill-ins.

Alex Cook is a rookie from the University of Washington who the Panthers signed off the Giants practice squad on October 17th. Cook is a rookie who hadn’t played the first eight weeks of the season until last week where he saw every single defensive snap. After watching the game back, Cook had some really impressive moments.

On the Colts second drive of the game, they moved the ball 75 yards downfield and had a goal-to-go situation. Recently when opponents drove the ball inside the Panthers ten yard line, they were guaranteed a touchdown. After a first and goal tush push attempt from the two yard line, Alex Cook made two plays that kept the Colts out of the end zone.

On the first, receiver Michael Pittman went in motion as eye candy to try and confuse the defense. The play was a zone run right with Mo Alie-Cox kicking out the backside end clearing a hole for Jonathan Taylor to cut back and waltz into the end zone. Not so fast. Cook read the play immediately, reacted well, drove into the hole, and wrapped up the former All-Pro running back while the rest of the defense rallied to bring him down. At the goal line it is imperative for your second and third level defenders to help in run support and Cook did a great job of it on that play.

On the next play, Cook was tested in coverage, and he aced it. He has middle of the field responsibility, and when Gardner Minshew rolls out to his right, it would have been very easy for Cook to be undisciplined and over pursue the quarterback leaving Michael Pittman wide open for an easy touchdown. You can see in the clip above that Cook reads Minshew’s eyes, reacts, and changes direction to put himself in position to make a late play on the ball if the quarterback threw it to Pittman. That quick change of direction and awareness by Cook led to a throw away by Minshew and a Colts field goal.

61 snaps by an undrafted rookie are always going to be up and down, but these two plays show the potential Cook has to be at least a solid depth piece in the secondary for the foreseeable future. Vonn Bell is likely to return this week, but an undrafted player on a manageable contract is an asset that deserves some run.

On the other side of the coin, DJ Johnson saw 43 snaps (70% of defensive plays, the highest rate of his career) and failed to make much of an impact.

These clips are just two of his 43 defensive snaps, but his film is littered with plays like this. It’s unfair to compare Johnson to the athletic freak on the opposite side of the defense, but the difference between him and Burns is staggering. Burns has a flurry of moves and counter moves paired with elite quickness and strength. Johnson is strong, but he has little variance in his moves off the edge and his pass rushing snaps leave a ton to be desired.

Johnson was billed as a project when he was drafted in the third round, but at 25-years-old, he’s probably more of a finished product that the team had hoped for. He boats elite measurable and looks legitimately imposing on the field, but the bite doesn’t match the bark and Johnson hasn’t produced enough to merit his third round draft price.

Carolina's disappointing season has a chance to take a turn on Thursday night. It's going to take maximum effort from some unexpected sources for that to happen.

DJ Moore and D'Onta Foreman Face Their Former Team

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