Carolina Panthers younger, faster since making moves in secondary

Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Sean McDermott realized early on that his secondary lacked the necessary speed to succeed in the pass-happy NFL, but he said a quick fix wasn’t possible.

Both of the defensive backs the Panthers drafted in May were injured. Fourth-round safety Tre Boston was coming off sports hernia surgery during the spring, and fifth-round cornerback Bené Benwikere had a high ankle sprain that sidelined him for six games.

The Panthers stuck with the free agents they’d signed in March – free safety Thomas DeCoud and cornerback Antoine Cason, even as the former failed to make many plays and the latter foundered as one of the lowest-rated corners in the league.

After DeCoud and Cason gave up first-half touchdowns during a 31-13 loss at Minnesota on Nov. 30 – and with the two rookies healthy again – the Panthers made the switch.

Boston and Benwikere replaced their older counterparts during the Vikings game and became the starters the next week at New Orleans.

Whether it’s the added speed and youthful energy that Benwikere and Boston have brought, or just a coincidence, the Panthers haven’t lost since. Carolina (6-8-1) will take a three-game winning streak into Sunday’s winner-take-all game at Atlanta (6-9) for the NFC South title.

“I know we’re making plays on the ball. We’re flying around, we’re playing faster as a defense,” veteran strong safety Roman Harper said this week. “Whether it’s all from the moves or whatever it is, I know we are playing faster.”

The secondary had undergone two makeovers since last season’s 12-win campaign.

The free-agent departures of safety Mike Mitchell and cornerback Captain Munnerlyn and the retirements of corner Drayton Florence and Quintin Mikell left the Panthers without four-fifths of their so-called “Legion of Whom” secondary.

General manager Dave Gettleman re-stocked by signing three mid-tier free agents, including two with NFC South ties (DeCoud and Harper) and another in Cason who’d played for Panthers coach Ron Rivera and secondary coach Steve Wilks in San Diego.

The Panthers also used mid-round draft picks on the two rookies, trading up in the fifth round to grab the ball-hawking Benwikere out of San Jose State.

Benwikere earned the starting nickel back spot with a strong preseason, but Boston missed organized team activities and most of training camp after his surgery.

Meanwhile, third-year cornerback Josh Norman had not worked his way into the lineup after getting buried in Rivera’s doghouse in 2013.

For six of the first seven games, the starting secondary was Cason and Melvin White at corners, and Harper and DeCoud at safety.

After watching the defense get torched for 320 passing yards or more in games against Baltimore, Cincinnati and Philadelphia, coaches saw a secondary that was noticeably slow.

“We were putting it together. And then you finally get a chance to see what you really have and you say, ‘OK, you know what? We need more foot speed.’ And that was evident to most of us early,” McDermott said.

“We just couldn’t get there. We couldn’t get the foot speed on the field because they were in the training room. But they got healthy, and we got them on as soon as we could, without just throwing them all out there.”

Norman missed two games after sustaining a concussion in a Week 5 win against Chicago, but has been a full-time starter since late-October.

He has played well enough that coaches assign him to the opponent’s No. 1 receiver each week. This week he’ll match up against Pro Bowl wideout Julio Jones, who was held to six catches for 59 yards in the Falcons’ Week 11 win in Charlotte.

Boston and Benwikere have been solid since taking over for DeCoud and Cason, who was waived Dec. 2, two days after the loss at Minnesota.

Boston had a game-high nine tackles against Tampa Bay two weeks ago, including eight solo stops. Benwikere made a great break on the ball to intercept Drew Brees at New Orleans, and nearly had another pick in the Panthers’ 41-10 victory.

In the second quarter of Sunday’s win against Cleveland, Benwikere sniffed out a pass in the flat to Browns wideout Taylor Gabriel, then showed off his speed by darting toward the sideline and dropping Gabriel for a 1-yard gain.

“Great tackle in space,” McDermott said. “That’s fun to watch. That’s good, fundamental, tough football.”

Benwikere believes he and Boston have helped pick up the intensity level in the defensive backfield.

“I don’t know about faster. I guess we’ve been maybe just playing a little bit harder, trying to go out there making statements,” Benwikere said. “Me and Boston knew we had a lot to prove as far as letting them know the young guys know what we’re doing.”

Atlanta receiver Roddy White said the Falcons would try to exploit the Panthers’ youth in the secondary.

“Every time you put rookies on the field, you want to get after those guys, try to (use) formations to try to get those guys in mismatches,” White said during a conference call. “Those guys haven’t been playing enough football throughout the year to know everything that’s going on out there.”

Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis expressed confidence in the young guys in the back end.

“They stepped in and have done a great job for us,” Davis said. “That’s what this league is all about. You get a chance, you have to make the most of it.”

Asked about the revamped secondary, Norman didn’t want to say anything to slight the former starters. He agreed, though, the Swarming B’s – Boston and Benwikere – have brought a new element to the secondary.

“I tip my hat to them, they are fast,” Norman said. “They cover up so much stuff.”

This story was originally published December 24, 2014 at 4:26 PM.