Brady Christensen Embraces Competition

Once Austin Corbett makes a full recovery from his ACL injury, the Carolina Panthers will have all five starters back along the offensive line from a year ago. A big part of Carolina's turnaround in 2022 stemmed from the success of those five guys up front.

But the question is, how long will that starting five remain the same?

In April's draft, the Panthers selected Chandler Zavala out of North Carolina State and he is someone the coaching staff and front office are extremely thrilled about. GM Scott Fitterer noted how well he played next to Ickey Ekwonu in their brief time together in Raleigh which was one of the many reasons why they had interest in him.

So with Zavala having that experience playing to the right of Ekownu and Brady Christensen only having one year of guard under his belt, is the plan to eventually work Zavala into that starting spot? It's possible.

When asked if he's been told whether the starting left guard job is his or if there will be competition for it, Christesen responded, "Competition is always there for everyone. We're just all taking it day by day. And that's what we love about this game and really love about the NFL - the competition is there no matter what."

Offensive line coach James Campen may have been jacked up to get Zavala in the draft but at the same time, he was also very pleased with the work that Christensen did this past season in his first year transitioning to a new position.

"He got better and better with each experience. When you get the force up to start all 17 games, he saw a variation of heights, weights -- and that helps a guy inside that's converted from outside to inside because the distance has closed on him. Usually, you're 90% of the time you're blocking a guy who's an edge guy on the open side and there's space. Now everything is right now, it's sudden. He did a really good job of getting better every game. He's out working with us now and he looks good. He's progressed really well."

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