Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.The Carolina Panthers go into training camp with several key positions on the line. Muhsin Muhammad, D.J. Hackett and Dwayne Jarrett are all fighting for the chance to start with Steve Smith at wide receiver. Rookie Charles Godfrey and free agent acquisition Terrence Holt will likely compete for the free safety spot. The right guard competition is full of big boys -- Keydrick Vincent, Toniu Fonoti, and Milford Brown weigh a combined 1000 pounds -- who look like they could out-eat Joey Chestnut. (Looks can be deceiving, of course.)
Perhaps the most closely watched position battle in Spartanburg this year, though, will be the defensive end battle. The Panthers lost much of its once-potent pass rush last year when Julius Peppers fizzled and Mike Rucker looked less-than-fully recovered from knee surgery in 2006. Rucker is retired, while Peppers will try to prove last year was an anomaly.
So who starts opposite from Peppers?
Charles Johnson, the Panthers 3rd-round pick in 2007, looked like the favorite until the team signed Tyler Brayton away from Oakland. Like every other former Raider, Brayton is looking to revitalize his career in a new location, and being at Carolina will give him a chance to focus on one position, rather than get moved around by a coaching staff that doesn't know what to do with him. Stanley McClover is also in the mix, though last year he seemed more of a run-stopper than a pash-rusher -- great when Carolina needed stops on 4th and 1, but Damione Lewis got to the QB more on 3rd-down situations.
Which way John Fox goes, however, might depend on where Julius Peppers lines up in 2008. If Peppers moves to the right side, Johnson could have a slight edge over Brayton. Plus, given John Fox's tendency to rotate his defensive linemen, though, all four defensive ends could get plenty of opportunities to show they can rush the quarterback.
Still, I like Brayton to win this battle, as former Raiders tend to do better once they leave Oakland. If Brayton does half as well as Randy Moss did last year, Carolina's pass rush could be much improved. Plus, Brayton will have two more opportunites to remove Jerramy Stevens from the gene pool. That's something even Buccaneers fans can get behind.
