CHARLOTTE — The Panthers have been in times, and not all that long ago, when one injury, one bad break, can wreck an offensive line.

Now they've endured several already, and instead of falling apart, they're rising higher than they've been in years.

Part of it is personnel, as the Panthers started at a higher floor with a better grade of player, bringing their top nine blockers back from last year. Part of it is coaching consistency, as they're in the second year with run game coordinator Harold Goodwin, line coach Joe Gilbert, and offensive quality control coach Dean Petzing.

But part of it might be described best and simply by one of its youngest members.

"The chemistry in that room is amazing," practice squad tackle Michael Tarquin said. "I've never seen anything like it."

Granted, he hasn't seen a lot; this is his first year in the NFL. But he recognized the bond as special, the way each guy helps teach, the way a group of guys who know each other well welcomes in newcomers, and the way all of them seemingly play multiple positions because you just never know.

And that has led to some unusual results.

The Panthers have used five different starting lineups of offensive linemen in six games.

They've employed a total of 17 different offensive linemen in the first six weeks, including the practice squad.

Also, they're fourth in the league in rushing, sixth in first downs gained per game, and seventh in sacks allowed per pass play.

Those fact patterns don't go together in a normal circumstance.

"It's the work; it's that group that's committed to each other," head coach Dave Canales said. "These guys spend a lot of time together, they have a lot of camaraderie, they're always working. It starts off with Goody and Joe, and they're always working on stunts, they're always working on different front looks, possibilities that may come up on the side when they're special teams period, or when the defense is out there in the scout team periods. They just are constantly working, constantly talking, and they're just committed to that process of work.

"And that's what it takes because you never know when your number's going to get called, and when it does, you don't want to miss your shot, you don't want to miss that shot."

Canales pointed to the examples of Brady Christensen, a college left tackle who became a guard in the NFL, worked as the backup center last year, and is one of four players in the league to have started in all five line positions. He's been active as a backup, and the third starting right guard of the year after injuries to Robert Hunt (one of the highest-paid and best players on the team) and Chandler Zavala.

But it's also Yosh Nijman, who has been inactive for a game, but also started the opener at left tackle and at right tackle last week, and "playing what I believe is his best game as a Panther, really balancing it out from a run game and a pass protection standpoint."

"So we're really fortunate to have those guys," Canales said. "And it's one thing to have the talent in the room, it's another thing for those guys to work together for the whole room to grow, the whole room to continue to develop."

And when he says the whole group, it's a good thing the coaches around them are stable, because a lot of dudes have come through the door already, and we're just in Week 7.

Damien Lewis is the only offensive lineman who has started every game, and he didn't practice Thursday. Cade Mays and Christensen are the only other two to be active for every game. Ikem Ekwonu missed the opener after an appendectomy, and Taylor Moton last week with an elbow injury. Hunt and Austin Corbett were placed on injured reserve after Week 2, Zavala after Week 4. Corbett started practicing again this week, and Zavala is ramping up his work on the side.

They signed Nick Samac off the Ravens practice squad in Week 3, then Jake Curhan off the Cardinals practice squad in Week 5. One of their practice squaders, Brandon Walton, has been elevated three times for games and would need to be signed to the 53 to play again, which seems inevitable at this point. Practice squad guard-center Jarret Kingston, who was on the roster all last year, was signed to Houston's active roster after Week 4. They added NFL veteran Saahdiq Charles to the practice squad, and had a couple of one-week rentals on the practice squad come and go.

Game-by-game offensive line personnel

There's a lot going on here, so the coaches can't just zoom in on one guy; they have to teach the whole room.

Offensive coordinator Brad Idzik raved about all the "next man up" he's been seeing across the board, from backup receivers and running backs and tight ends, but no group has seen more shuffling than the line.

"All these guys being prepared, it's just a testament to our coaches and a testament to our teaching style, just making sure that we're pouring into every individual in our rooms and then conceptually teaching so when the guy doesn't get the rep, he at least understands what we're trying to accomplish," Idzik said. "All the production that's happened is kind of a microcosm of just the direction we're going and the way we're teaching, and just really commend all of our coaches and all of our players buying into that."

As they've done that, they've been able to expand on what they do on the field. The call sheet has to evolve when you account for the difference between Hunt and Christensen, because they're such different athletes. But as they've produced (and that first-down stat is huge, because it means more plays), they've been able to experiment and grow on the fly.

"You don't always know until you see the live reps of what schemes complement the players you have on the field," Idzik said. "So you really, we're going to carry a variety going into every game week and then until you see how the defense is trying to combat it and what your guys are fitting right and pointing right and operating on the same page together with, then you get to go and hit those repeat plays, protect it up and try to try to run it again in a different way.

"As long as we have that variety in the game plan, we can kind of see where the game takes us, and that's really fun for us as coaches to be able to present a bunch of different schemes to players, teach it the right way, the conceptual teaching that everybody's on board with what we're trying to do, and then watch where the game takes you, right?"

Idzik said during games, Goodwin, Gilbert, and Petzing will point out certain runs that worked, and might suggest going back to it soon, or waiting to set it up for later.

"I just love that part of the game and I love where our coaches are at with their communication," Idzik said.

That communication extends to the entire room. Tarquin mentioned that Corbett, even before he returned to practice, was helping instruct him on the finer points of protection and how to talk to each other, because he knows how important that is.

Probably, because he knows what can happen.

He and Christensen were, in a way, the patient zero of this moment in time. They started every game in 2022 at guard (Corbett on the right, Christensen on the left), but both went down to injuries in the finale at New Orleans. Christensen's broken ankle healed, but he popped a biceps tendon in the 2023 opener. Corbett's ACL tear was a longer recovery, and it was midseason until he returned, only to play four games and reinjure the same knee. That year, they used seven different left guards, eight different right guards, allowed 65 sacks, and finished their second straight season with an interim coach.

Needless to say, it didn't go well.

Ekwonu just smiled when asked about those days, because things are so much better now, even with the weekly changes.

"I feel like having cohesion we did last year, bringing on some new guys that definitely helps the chemistry," he said. "Already having a year under our belts of chemistry and connecting this and being able to play together, it's going on two years now, I think that definitely helps.

"I feel like (in 2023) it was a lot of misaligned players, the chemistry of it. We've all got to play as one unit, so I mean any any time you have interchangeable parts and you're taking guys out and you know moving pieces around, it's hard to build that chemistry, so I feel like that was definitely a factor."

"I think it's a big credit to Goody and Joe and Dean," Christensen added. "They're coaching their asses off, and we're trusting them and their techniques. And so when other people go in it's the same technique across the board that everyone else is using, so I think we have a lot of continuity, right?"

Now, you get a guy like Samac, who has been here all of a month, helping a veteran like Charles get used to his new environment because he knows what it's like to try to learn it in a hurry.

"With new guys that are coming in now just kind of get settled in and stuff, it's been quite a transition, but it's definitely a good experience with that group," Samac said. "I mean, we're all working together. It's an open forum in our meetings. We're all talking and asking questions, and we're just trying to get on the same page, whether it's a communication on the field, communication in a meeting room to make sure we're all squared away for Sundays."

Like Tarquin, Samac credited the 30-year-old Corbett with being available around the clock for the new guys, whether that's hosting impromptu meetings or just filling in the blanks in the locker room as they watch film on their tablets. Or it could be Ekwonu, inviting interior linemen into a pass-rush meeting with the outside linebackers. There's a lot of teaching happening here.

And Nijman said that making sure to offer grace and help to new guys is key to this as well.

"It could be challenging," the veteran tackle said of bringing in new guys to an existing group. "I think teams kind of give a little bit of leeway to that, and I think as far as how fast we collectively, the guys that are there can catch him up.

"That's probably the true testament of how fast he learns it. The information's there, we have guys that ask questions, and I'm sure the questions can be answered because we have a group of guys here that, whoever comes in, we kind of bring them in, and anything they need, you know, they can reach us."

Corbett said the first step is their baseline of familiarity, of knowing Moton and Ekwonu and Mays and Christensen and the lot of them for more than five minutes at a time. That allows the kind of communication that lets them not just survive, but thrive in unpredictable situations.

"I think it's just the consistency of just the people in the building," Corbett said. "To come in and have the same offensive staff coming into this year, same defensive staff, a couple pieces added into the training room, weight room, but for the majority it's just the same people around and that alone just allows guys to be more comfortable in the system to let their personality shine where when they get out there on the field, it's just an easy communication and they can go be who they are, play with that confidence, and just let it fly.

"Having all of us together every week at practice, like you don't just go out there with the same five for your reps because you know guys are on play counts, right? A guy needs a breather, step in on the scout team, so there's a constant shift that's always going on. And to be able to work that puzzle, and you get to a point where it's just like, I know what Brady needs said, I know what Taylor Moton needs said, I know what Brandon Walton needs said, even activated off the practice squad, right? Like it's just that communication that you have in the meeting room that you take to the practice field, and it just makes it easy, natural to show up on Sundays."

When Corbett says it like that, it sounds easy.

It is not easy, not when you're bringing in new people on such a regular basis, and he's lived that.

"Because it's just one or two pieces that are figuring out communication," he said. "Instead of now adding a piece, and we're also still all trying to figure ourselves out, so now you've got to figure out what we're figuring out, and nobody actually knows.

"So it just comes back to just having people around that have been around together makes it easy, and everyone can be brought up to speed much quicker."

It's a good skill to have, because the possibility for change is always right around the next corner.