CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Carolina Panthers have one of the best, if not the best, corps of starting linebackers in the NFL in Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis and Shaq Thompson.
LB Crew. #KeepPounding pic.twitter.com/myCJtg84PM
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) April 19, 2017
So why are they working out linebackers before the draft when there are far more pressing needs at other positions?
Depth.
Insurance.
Competition.
Let’s start with Kuechly. He’s a four-time Pro Bowl selection and the 2013 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He’s only 25, so his best years should be ahead of him.
But Kuechly has suffered a concussion that has forced him to miss games in each of the past two seasons. He’s more susceptible to another because of that.
The team was so concerned about Kuechly’s long-term health last season that he was held out the final three games after clearing the concussion protocol even though he wanted to play.
Last year, A.J. Klein stepped in as an adequate replacement. But Klein signed with New Orleans in free agency, so the job would fall to David Mayo or Ben Jacobs.
Neither has a resume that gives assurance he can replace Kuechly.
Then there’s Davis. He’s 34 and in the last year of his contract. As amazing has he’s been since coming back from three ACL surgeries on the same knee, there are no assurances he’ll play another season after 2017.
Kuechly and Davis have been the team’s top two tacklers every season since Kuechly came into the league in 2012. They also set the tone for the defense in terms of their work ethic and leadership, as they are doing now during offseason workouts.
They are critical to the success of a defense that relies on the defensive linemen to take up blocks and create havoc on the quarterback while the linebackers make tackles.
Thompson was selected in the first round of the 2015 draft to be a long-term replacement for Davis, a player he resembles in terms of pure athletic ability.
So when Thompson steps into that role, whether it’s in 2018 or the next season, the Panthers will need another athletic linebacker to move into Thompson’s role if Carolina is to maintain its status as an elite linebacker corps.
Former Duke star Jeremy Cash was signed as an undrafted free agent last year, but he’s still a project with little game experience beyond special teams.
So the Panthers likely will spend one of their eight draft picks on a linebacker.
Among the outside linebackers they’ve worked out are Alabama’s Ryan Anderson, Houston’s Tyrus Bowser, UCLA’s Takkarist McKinley, Wisconsin’s T.J. Watt and Kansas State’s Jordan Willis.
Among the inside linebackers getting a look are Michigan’s Ben Gedeon and Boise State’s Tanner Vallejo.
Judging by where the outside linebackers in particular are projected, the Panthers would have to use one of their four picks between the second and fourth round on one.
Bowser and McKinley are expected to go in the first two rounds. Anderson, Watt and Willis have second- to third-round projections.
None warrant Carolina’s first-round pick -- No. 8 overall -- as Kuechly (9th), Davis (14th) and Thompson (25th) once did, but this is a position the Panthers are taking a serious look at even if they are set with three starting stars.
