Rasheed Walker’s first year with the Carolina Panthers has turned into a rough one, and the numbers make that plain.
According to ESPN and NFL Next Gen Stats, Walker has already given up 45 quarterback pressures through eight games. That’s 19 more than rookie right tackle Monroe Freeling, who has played one fewer game. Walker has also been isolated in one-on-one pass sets on 79.1% of his snaps, and he hasn’t been able to hold up consistently when the rush comes.
That problem showed up in a big moment Sunday against the Denver Broncos. Carolina was 36 yards from the end zone and chasing its fourth win of the season when, with 1:24 left, Nik Bonitto drove Walker back into the pocket and knocked the ball free from Bryce Young’s right hand for a sack-fumble. The Broncos finished off a 26-21 win, and Walker’s struggles in pass protection were suddenly front and center again.
The performance only added to a stretch that has already put him under scrutiny. Walker has had a difficult month, and the Panthers are seeing the same issues that kept the Green Bay Packers from bringing him back. He wasn’t strong last season, and both the film and the production suggest he has taken a step backward this year.
Walker knows the pressure is building. He spent last week going over his film to pinpoint what was going wrong, and he decided his footwork needed work. He focused on that in practice and felt better about the results before Bonitto’s strip-sack changed the ending.
The challenge doesn’t get any easier next week. Carolina has to beat the New Orleans Saints, or the noise around the team is only going to get louder. Walker’s job is clear: he has to do a better job protecting Young’s blindside as the Panthers move into a critical stretch.
That matters because Young still needs to show more, too. He has 2,197 passing yards, 16 touchdown passes, a 60.4% completion rate and six interceptions.
He’s making $12.1 million this season in the fourth year of his rookie deal, and Carolina already picked up his fifth-year option, which is worth a guaranteed $25.9 million. The Panthers didn’t work out an extension with him in the offseason, so he’ll need another strong season to put himself in position for one next year.
Against the Saints, Walker will likely see another tough assignment. The source of the concern is the same as it’s been all season: if he can’t handle the best pass rushers coming his way, Carolina’s problems are going to keep piling up.
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The most obvious areas of concern are the secondary and the pass rush, and that is where the speculation has started to build. Cornerback Riq Woolen and edge rusher Will McDonald IV have both surfaced as possible targets in the kind of deadline chatter that tends to follow a team sitting in first place without looking settled, but for Carolina the bigger question is whether help is actually available and whether the Panthers are willing to pay for it. [Read more 🡒]