Biggest remaining needs for each NFC South team

Carolina Panthers – Cornerback

The Panthers just got a new owner, but watching them last season, the Saints were the ones who actually owned them, beating them in all three matchups and having Sean Payton bring out the broom, when celebrating in the locker room after their Wildcard Round win. With the Falcons being one end-zone drop by Julio Jones away from beating the eventual Super Bowl champs and the Buccaneers being everybody’s offseason darling for the last few years and that having to materialize at some point, this is a crucial period for Carolina to get back on top of the division.

With Norv Turner calling the shots, expect an explosive offensive attack by the Panthers, featuring plenty of downfield throws with the renewed receiving corp and Christian McCaffrey being featured in a variety of ways. Defensively, they have most of their key pieces back in the front seven.

The secondary is a concern for me. I’ve always been a fan of 37-year-old Mike Adams and they drafted Tennessee’s Rashaan Gaulden to transition to the second safety spot, even though I thought he was most well-rounded nickelback in this class. James Bradberry has developed into a quality corner in their zone-heavy scheme, but I don’t think they have a second corner to go with him.

I think Donte Jackson, who they selected out of LSU in the second round, could be a special player inside with that incredible short-area burst, but he doesn’t have size for the perimeter. Captain Munnerlyn will be the guy to teach him the ropes of the position, but he is more of an inside guy at this point in his career as well.

That leaves Ross Cockrell, Kevon Seymour, Corn Elder and Ladarius Gunter as the other options. They are all solid backup material, but I don’t think any of them is a starter. When they decided to let go of Josh Norman a couple of years ago, they signaled that cornerback doesn’t have the highest priority in their defense, but they still need to trot two quality guys out there on Sundays.