Panthers offensive line ready to build on the identity established last season

CHARLOTTE — During the break after minicamp ends in mid-June, the social media feeds tend to fill up with passing drills, quarterbacks throwing with their receivers on some empty high school field. And that's good and worthwhile.

But when the Panthers return next week and report for training camp, that's when the identity of this team will emerge again. Well, technically, it'll happen when they put pads on, because an offensive line that took a major step last year and improved dramatically is back intact and ready to build on what they've accomplished.

"I mean, it's definitely nice, having that trust and having that onus on us," left tackle Ikem Ekwonu said. "That's kind of a mindset we tried to embrace in the last couple of years, like the offensive line, as we move like the team moves with us. We take pride in being that group that is like the rock of the team — we like to consider ourselves the rock of the team.

"So definitely we take pride in that and we're going to work each and every day to keep that mindset going."

Just having the same set of people is a huge step, and the Panthers have been intentional the last two years about firming up that foundation.

While they were set at tackle with 2022 first-rounder Ekwonu and steady veteran Taylor Moton, those two were the only consistent things about the line. In 2023, they used seven different players at left guard and eight different guys at right guard over the course of the season. So to fix that, they spent big money last year in free agency on guard Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, and moved Austin Corbett into center.

The difference was immediate, as they went from 65 sacks allowed in 2023 to 35 last year, giving quarterback Bryce Young and running back Chuba Hubbard a chance to shine. And people noticed, with Pro Football Focus ranking them the 11th-best line in the league going into this year, writing: "Draft picks and free-agent acquisitions paid off for the Panthers in 2024, with arguably the NFL's worst offensive line becoming a top-10 unit."

But more than just a statistical difference, there was a personality shift, which was evident as soon as Hunt started throwing dudes out of the club on screens, and Ekwonu and the rest fed off that physical style.

Hunt said during training camp he began to get a sense of what was to come, that a group comprised of premium free agents and high picks (Ekwonu was picked sixth overall in 2022, Moton 64th in 2017) could set a standard early on.

"At the end of the day, for me, I don't want to play football if I'm not going to play it at a high level," Hunt said. "I want to be good. It's not even about what I got paid. I've been playing the game to be good. My goal when I got in it was to try to be a Pro Bowler, All-Pro, Hall of Famer, so that's just for me, that's my standard.

"So when I got in and saw other guys to that caliber, ... I think an underrated guy is T-Mo, who if he were in a bigger market would be a Pro Bowler. So when you realize those are the guys I'm working with, everybody else raises their game."

And as they gained cohesion as a group, they could tell it began to rub off.

Hunt said he recognized Young growing more confident as the year went on (which could be simply a result of getting sacked 29 times in a year instead of 62), but it was also a sign of the collective whole improving.

"Bryce has got a little more in him. I learned that last year against Denver, we scored a touchdown early in the game, we're competing early," Hunt said. "I got beat actually on this one play. Bryce throws a strike to a guy. My guy actually hit him. He gets up, yells, and has a couple of words where he's at him in his face, let him know he's there, and that's OK. He's got it in him. I love that."

And the consistency they established last season has the opportunity to continue this year. When they re-signed Corbett this offseason, the starting five was locked in for another year. But by keeping key backups Brady Christensen and Cade Mays, each of whom started games at center after Corbett was injured, they kept a core together. With Corbett and Mays competing for the starting job in the middle, they have a known commodity no matter which way it goes. Along with Chandler Zavala and Yosh Nijman, they have their top nine linemen in snaps played from last season back this year, allowing them the depth to survive temporary injuries. All five starters missed at least one game last year (Corbett 12, Moton three, Ekwonu two, Lewis and Hunt one each), so having that depth is critical.

Panthers offensive line snap counts, 2024

"That's the mindset as an offensive line that we always try to be, like we're the only guys, along with the quarterback, who aren't coming off the field," said Corbett, who came here as a free agent in 2022 after winning a Super Bowl ring with the Rams. "We're out there for all 65, 75 plays, whatever it is, and so we have to be that consistency for the team to be able to, no matter who's in there, this is exactly what you're going to get every single time.

"You're only going to go as far as the offensive line goes. So I think for where we were at the end of last year, just to have that momentum feeding into this offseason for us not to change the offensive line room at all, that just shows the front office's belief in us and the understanding that we are back, and we embrace it."

And having that stability is key for a team that's growing and changing in many ways since coach Dave Canales and general manager Dan Morgan took over in 2024. There are only 12 players on the roster left from the 2022 team, and five of them are offensive linemen (Moton, Ekwonu, Corbett, Christensen, Mays). So that shows how unique it is to have the same group back this season.

"It's definitely rare," Ekwonu said. "Some guys that have been in the league way longer than I have, that have coached way longer than I've been alive, they even say how rare it is and how special it is.

"So for us to be able to retain as many guys as we did, that's definitely something we're not taking for granted."