Here is part two of our positional breakdown of the fantasy football relevant players on the Carolina Panthers for the 2021 season in our Panthers IDP 4-EYED Team Preview!
*This season at Fantasy In Frames we’ll be using IDP123 scoring as our default scoring rubric when talking about the fantasy relevance of IDP player performance.*
Defensive Line
*Positional designations brought to you by Sleeper.
Haason Reddick- EDGE/LB (Current ADP: DL18/LB34)
(Averaged 16.0 fppg in 2020)
Same face, new place as ex-Arizona Cardinal Reddick has a new home in Carolina. Sleeper gives Reddick dual-eligibility at both DL & LB since it is likely that Reddick is going to be used as the Panthers’ second EDGE rusher. Reddick finished as the DL2 last season and is reuniting with his college coach, Matt Rhule. Over his first three seasons in the league, Reddick had 7.5 sacks, but in 2020 Reddick broke out for 13 sacks. He added eight quarterback hits and 56 total tackles. Reddick should immediately make an impact opposite Brian Burns and with this addition to the defensive side of the ball, all of a sudden, this Panthers line is looking pretty scary to deal with.
Brian Burns- EDGE (Current ADP: DL9)
(Averaged 13.7 fppg in 2020)
Burns has been an absolute monster for the Panthers since they have finally figured out the best scheme for him to play in. As an EDGE rusher last season, Burns had 418 pass rushes, and for edge rushes with at least that many, Burns ranked sixth in total tackles (57), sixth in sacks (10), and fifth in quarterback hits (12). Burns should still steadily improve upon his 13.7 fantasy points per game average as the Panther’s defense looks like it is in a better place going into the 2021 season.
Linebacker
*Positional designations brought to you by Sleeper.
Shaq Thompson- LB (Current ADP: LB49)
(Averaged 13.5 fppg in 2020)
Thompson isn’t going to be rushing the passer and giving you any sacks or hits on the quarterback, but he is going to be able to be the linebacker that roams the field and drops into coverage. Of his 657 snaps where a passing play happened in the 2020 season, only 91 saw him rush the quarterback. The other 566 snaps had Thompson drop into coverage where he was not graded by PFF as a very good coverage linebacker. Despite the poor coverage skills of Thompson, he had the seventh-most tackles of any linebacker last year. This is a good news situation for IDP though because while Thompson did give up 63 receptions on 80 targets, the Panthers linebacker depth doesn’t have anyone pushing him off the field.
Defensive Back
Jeremy Chinn- DB/LB (Current ADP: DB3/LB8)
(Averaged 16.5 fppg in 2020)
The brightest part of the Panthers secondary has to be second-year player Jeremy Chinn. The biggest thing that jumps out for Chinn’s rookie year is that he had six total defensive touchdowns to go along with his third-most tackles among any defensive back last season. He does have dual positionality on Sleeper, but Matt Rhule has said they expect Chinn to have more of that safety role. Chinn should be a top secondary piece off the board and his involvement in commanding the secondary and while it can’t be expected that he replicates his touchdown numbers, he is a rare defensive back that is going to have weekly value in your fantasy lineups.
In this edition of our series, I will be looking at the Carolina Panthers defense and letting you know who has some fantasy value for your IDP leagues!
