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It was injury to insult when Louis Leonard suffered a season-ending broken ankle in his first career start at Atlanta in Week 2. (PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

CHARLOTTE -- The season-long storyline for Carolina's defensive tackles was established in the first drill of the first practice in training camp.

Everything that happened at the position was connected to the fallout from that moment, when Maake Kemoeatu tore an Achilles tendon and was lost for the season. The shuffling at the position in camp, the trades that sent late-round selections away for young tackles, the late September addition of Hollis Thomas ... all of it could be traced to the earliest moment of the season.

But it would be inaccurate to say that the Panthers' defensive tackles unraveled; by the end of the season, the threads that connected the position's players were different, but the result was what the team hoped to find all along -- a space-filling, blocker-occupying group that saw much of its success flow from a nose tackle as massive as he was experienced.

It's just that the man in the middle of the Panthers' base defensive front wasn't Kemoeatu, as planned, but Thomas, who was with the St. Louis Rams until he was cut in September. By the time the Panthers signed Thomas, they'd already placed three defensive tackles on injured reserve.

But the 340-pounder provided precisely what the Panthers had lacked in their first three games: the ability to consume the efforts of multiple blockers. The Panthers' rushing defense immediately improved; its average yardage allowed improved from 182.7 in September to 83.7 in October and 111.5 for the season's last 13 games.

"We call it the '600-pound block,' and that's what you're getting -- two 300-pound (offensive) linemen coming off on you," head coach John Fox said.

Thomas and Damione Lewis provided the stability on the interior line that the Panthers had lacked in September. Lewis was the only defensive tackle to start and play in all 16 games; he has missed just two games in his four seasons with Carolina. He also led all Carolina defensive linemen with a career-high 65 total tackles, topping the previous career record of 61 he posted in 2004.

The first-team duo possesses a combined 23 years of experience -- three more years than the rest of the tackles put together. Eight of those seasons belong to Kemoeatu; the other five defensive tackles -- including three more who ended the season on injured reserve -- average just 2.4 years of experience.

Rookie Corvey Irvin's season was, in effect, a redshirt season; a knee injury incurred in the preseason ended the third-round selection's year before it could begin. Before he was hurt, he demonstrated flashes of progress; whether he turns those into consistent production could help determine the Panthers' future at the position.

Irvin's injury left the Panthers thin on the front line, with only second-year veteran Nick Hayden in their folt to provide depth. To supplement Hayden, the Panthers looked outside -- first to Louis Leonard, then to Tank Tyler a few weeks after Leonard fractured his ankle in Week 2.

Leonard's injury was particularly painful for both himself and the team; it came in the final moments of his first career start against the Falcons and drained the promise from an opening two weeks in which he led the team's defensive tackles with six stops and added a sack.

With Hayden also grappling with an early-season injury, the Panthers shuffled through backups. Sunny Harris had a short stint before being waived onto the practice squad and then being reclaimed by the Steelers for their 53-man roster; Antwon Burton saw action against the Cowboys in Week 3 and the Buccaneers in Week 6 before being released.

Stability finally arrived in the form of Tyler, who became the final piece of the Panthers' game-day depth after arriving from the Kansas City Chiefs. The North Carolina State product contributed 13 tackles in six games before suffering a knee injury that ended his season in Week 12.

When Tyler went to injured reserve and the Panthers signed ex-Jacksonville Jaguar Derek Landri, the team officially had as many defensive tackles on injured reserve (four) as the active roster. This was a somewhat misleading statistic, because ends Charles Johnson and Tyler Brayton often rotated inside in obvious pass-rush situations, but it illustrated how injuries affected this area of the team as they did few others -- and how the answers at the position may already rest on the roster.

With Tyler, Leonard and Irvin poised to return the Panthers now possess a stable of young defensive tackles defined more by their potential as their past performance. If they blossom, the Panthers might not have to look elsewhere in 2010 for their answers at the position; they may already be in their midst.