Five Panthers Primed for a Breakout Season in 2022

As young as this Panthers roster is, it was hard to dwindle down this list of players who could have a breakout season to just five. A few players who just missed the cut include OL Brady Christensen, DE Marquis Haynes, DT Derrick Brown, and CB CJ Henderson just to name a few.

So, who are the five I settled on?

WR Terrace Marshall Jr.

Can the preseason flashes carry over to the regular season this year for Terrace Marshall Jr.? I think so. Is he primed for a 1,000-yard season? Probably not, but he should emerge as the clear No. 3 receiver in the offense and perhaps No. 2 if he can become consistent and reliable enough to surpass Robbie Anderson. He's an explosive receiver that can beat you in multiple ways from different areas of the field. Now it's just about putting it all together. It also helps that he is entering training camp fully healthy and knows what is expected of him.

TE Tommy Tremble

Ben McAdoo loves his tight ends in the passing game, so I would expect an increase number of targets for the young tight end in 2022. He came into the league as an elite blocking tight end but Matt Rhule said during minicamp that he's come a long way as a receiving threat. If he can post numbers similar to that of McAdoo's former tight end in New York, Evan Engram, the Panthers will be thrilled.

DE Yetur Gross-Matos

As I've stated many times this offseason, this feels like a crucial year for Gross-Matos. He doesn't need to record ten sacks to remain in the Panthers' future plans but he has to show that he can turn his game up another notch or two. When on the field, he's been good but there's more in there that the Panthers are hoping he can tap into. It'll help that teams are heavily concentrated on Brian Burns, but he has to take advantage of that and force teams to be concerned with his pass rush ability.

LB Frankie Luvu

There will be more of an opportunity this year for Luvu and he's earned it. Carolina could have went out and signed another veteran to replace Haason Reddick but they are confident Luvu can increase his production and become a quality player for them in an expanded role. Some guys are just late bloomers and some just need to be given a chance. For Luvu, I think it's more of the latter. Every time he was on the field last year, good things happened.

CB Jaycee Horn

This is probably the most obvious one considering Horn was a top ten pick and only played in a couple of games as a rookie. I didn't want to throw him on here at first because it feels like a given, but the type of season he could have is hard to ignore. Not only can he become the Panthers No. 1 corner in 2022 but he could be one of the top corners in the NFC.

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