A Look at What the Panthers Face During Corbett's Absence

Carolina Panthers starting right guard Austin Corbett was placed on the PUP list on Tuesday, officially ruling him out for the first four games of the regular season. This means he will miss games at Atlanta, vs. New Orleans, at Seattle, and vs. Minnesota.

"I am confident he is doing everything in his power to be back as soon as he can," head coach Frank Reich said Wednesday when asked if he'd be ready for Week 5 against Detroit. "We're going to make the best decision for him first and foremost. There's a lot of research science and analytics behind the timeframe to come back from these kinds of injuries. Part of it is how is the player doing. How is he doing in his rehab? And then some of it is just time-related as well. I watch him do some of his rehab. He looks great."

In the meantime, the Panthers have to roll with one of the three young guys in Cade Mays, Chandler Zavala, or Nash Jensen unless they pick up a veteran through waivers or scoop up a free agent. That being said, it seems as if the Panthers would rather stay in-house and use this as an opportunity for one of those guys to gain some experience and potentially push for a starting job down the road, perhaps at left guard.

Reich was asked if he envisions Zavala, who the team took in the fourth round of this year's draft, to be that interim starter.

"We'll see. I mean, he's looked good. We'll see how that plays out. Cade [Mays] is back and we'll just work through that decision."

So what kind of challenge will Zavala or Mays be up against through the first four weeks of the season? Here are a couple of stats to show what lies ahead.

Rushing yards per game allowed in 2022 (NFL ranking)

Atlanta - 130.2 (23rd)

New Orleans - 130.5 (24th)

Seattle - 151.9 (30th)

Minnesota - 124.2 (21st)

Team sacks per game in 2022 (NFL ranking)

Atlanta - 1.2 (31st)

New Orleans - 2.8 (6th)

Seattle - 2.6 (10th)

Minnesota - 2.3 (20th)

All four opponents the Panthers face struggled mightily against the run game a year ago. I'm aware all four teams have added new pieces and may see some improvement, but none of them are going to be at or anywhere near the top in this same category in 2023.

Two of the four teams did a good job of getting to the quarterback and with what New Orleans and Seattle bring back, they should be just as productive in this area of the game this season. Atlanta added David Onyemata and Calais Campbell, so they should see a slight uptick in their pass-rushing numbers as well.

So, can the Panthers survive without Corbett for four weeks? Yes, they can.

I know folks want to see Frank Reich really spread things out and let Bryce Young throw it around the yard early in the year, but with your starting right guard out, and a beaten-up WR room, it makes sense to establish and lean on the run especially when these four opponents had so much trouble with it in 2022.

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