KatsAzz

Nailed It.

Lean,mean,tackling machine. That is what we want linebacker Jermaine Carter to be.

Q: Having performed well last year, what’s your goals this year? I want to be the starting linebacker, but most importantly I want to make the playoffs. We haven’t been to the playoffs since I’ve been here ... I just want to make the playoffs and I want to help the team. I want to win the job. I want to be out there and play and be out there and contribute. I want to make plays for the team.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/.../article252345808.html Why Carolina Panthers linebacker Jermaine Carter feels he has something to prove BY JONATHAN M. ALEXANDER JUNE 25, 2021 12:05 PM Carolina Panthers linebacker Jermaine Carter (56) says he grew up watching the Washington Football Team because of one player: Sean Taylor, a former standout at the University of Miami who was fatally shot during a home invasion during the 2007 NFL season. DANIEL KUCIN JR. AP It was the Panthers’ Week 14 game against the Denver Broncos, when Jermaine Carter delivered a hit so vicious to Melvin Gordon, you could clearly hear the pop come through the speakers from the television. Carter got up, stood over Gordon, yelled and flexed his muscles. Though the celebration drew a costly penalty, the moment showed that Carter plays like he has something to prove. That’s because he does. Carter says he’s always been doubted — from the Upper Marlboro Mustangs Boys & Girls Club football team to the NFL. And Carter is set on proving everyone wrong. After starting the season on the bench, the Panthers linebacker became a starter midway through the 2020 season. Coach Matt Rhule said Carter improved tremendously throughout the course of the season, and admitted that the two butted heads early on.But by the end of the season, they were on the same page. Carter played in all 16 games and started the final seven. He finished with 46 tackles, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. As Carter enters his fourth season in the NFL, he’s expected to play a key role on the Panthers’ defense “Very happy with Jermaine,” Rhule said earlier this month. “From this time last year to here, he knows what to expect. He’s an excellent communicator, gets the guys lined up.” He added that having three linebackers like Carter, Shaq Thompson and Denzel Perryman will give the Panthers a chance to not overextend their players this season as opposed to last year. Carter’s competitiveness derives from growing up with four brothers and seven cousins. They grew up in Washington, D.C., and competed in everything. His father also pushed him. The Observer spoke with Carter in a one-on-one interview about his journey and why he plays with a chip on his shoulder: Q: Did your dad have any experience playing football? Carter: No, my dad was a drum major in a band. He’s always like a leader. He’s always preached to me being a leader, and it kind of came natural to me. Q: So he’s like Devon Miles (played by Nick Cannon) in “Drumline”? Carter: He loves “Drumline.” That was one of his favorite movies when it came out. Q: What made you fall in love with football? Carter: I started playing when I was 7 years old. It was something about — I was able to release my energy and anger. I don’t want to call it anger, because I’m not always angry, but I was able to release some energy and stress on the football field that I couldn’t release anywhere else. And I just fell in love with it. I just love competing. Q: You say you’ve always had a chip on your shoulder. What type of moments in your life motivated you to prove people wrong. Carter: Growing up I played for the Upper Marlboro Mustangs. And one season in particular where we kind of went to a different league, and you can bring kids in from all over. So my coach, he brought some kids in from Virginia, and they were playing positions I should have been playing. They had me playing cornerback, which at the time, I was fine with it, but my dad was like, ‘Man, you’re not a corner, you’re a linebacker.’ My dad just drives me. He’s like the little angel on my shoulder telling me, ‘Man, you can’t let them outdo you.’ It kind of stuck with me. I always tell everybody, my dad had a saying growing up. He said “Carters don’t quit. Carters have pride.” So I always take pride in everything I do. Q: So your dad knows what buttons to push? Carter: Yeah, he knows how to get me going. Q: You post a lot of videos on Twitter of you at Maryland laying some hits. Why? Carter: I always got a chip on my shoulder. I didn’t get recruited very highly in high school. I didn’t even make All-Met in Washington, D.C., which is still crazy to me. I don’t understand. I still hold a grudge for that. And I don’t understand how I wasn’t All-Met because I was a good player. So I went to college with that same chip. There were years when I was up for the (Dick) Butkus Award watch list, but I was not making All-Big Ten. I always felt I was one of the best linebackers in the Big Ten. I felt like I was one of the best linebackers in the draft and I never got the recognition. That kind of what drives me to go so hard. I want to show everybody that I belong. Q: Was there a team you were hoping offered you, but didn’t? Carter: My dream school was Miami. I was a huge, huge Sean Taylor fan. Even to this day. So I grew up watching (Washington Football Team). I saw how hard he played every week, and I wanted to model myself after that. Q: What in particular about his game did you love? Carter: I just love competing. I feel like football is like a big puzzle. If you do your job, all 11 guys on the defense, if they do your job, it just fits perfect. I just love the game. Love competing. I’m a problem solver. In school I was never the best at writing essays, but I was definitely good at math. Anything that I could take my time to figure out, and solve a problem, I was good at, and that’s how I look at football. When an offense presents play, as a defense we have to solve that problem. Q: Both you and Matt Rhule mentioned that you sort of butted heads early on, but it got better. Where did that disagreement happen? Carter: I’m the type of person that if I don’t know too much about you, I’m not the most communicative person. I’m not the most social person. And they probably looked at that as I didn’t want to be around, or I was being distant. But that’s not the person I am. I just think it was a big miscommunication. I don’t think it was anything major. Honestly, I think we butted heads, even with my coach, I love football so much and I’m passionate about it, some times I may come off the wrong way ... We didn’t have anything major that happened. Q: What was it like to prove yourself and win that job at the end of the year? Carter: It definitely meant everything to me. I don’t want to say I thought anything would be handed to me, but when Luke (Kuechly) retired, I was like, it was go time. It was time for me to show what I could do. And then the new coaching staff came in and they brought guys in. And that’s no slight on the coaching staff, that’s just how it works in the NFL. Everybody has their guys. And I had to earn their trust and I’m OK with that. I’ve been grinding my whole life, so I had no problem doing it that way. Q: So did that put a chip on your shoulder? It put me in a perspective that man, I’ve just got to keep working no matter what. Nothing is ever going to be given to me. Nothing at all in life. It’s just how I am as a person. I’ve got to go hard no matter what. It just drove me to go harder in practice and show them that I should be out there playing. And that’s just how I did it ... I learned so much from Luke and I would put that into my own little bucket and try to grow as a player. Q: Having performed well last year, what’s your goals this year? I want to be the starting linebacker, but most importantly I want to make the playoffs. We haven’t been to the playoffs since I’ve been here ... I just want to make the playoffs and I want to help the team. I want to win the job. I want to be out there and play and be out there and contribute. I want to make plays for the team.

This workout learned Winston how to stop having interceptions,just don't throw the football.

No way do i want to pay high bucks an inconsistent player like him.

I don't think bringing in an injury prone,ankle weary player like Castro, who is probably at the end of his career, is the mode of operation the Panthers front office would be willing to follow.

I fully agree and this 2021 season will be another year the OL coaches will have to excel if we are to have a halfway decent OL.

Since Chuba is considered a vocal person,i hope he is wise and picks and choses the right time to be vocal and the right time to remain silent. I am strongly pulling for him to succeed and be an asset to our team, so i don't want him to get the reputation as a trouble maker or malcontent.

Taylor Moton might be the NFL’s best right tackle, if not the most underrated one. We also have a pair of respectable projected starters at right guard and center with John Miller and Matt Paradis. The left side of the line is where things get really dicey.

The Panthers have invested a chunk of resources into their offensive line through free agency and the 2021 NFL Draft. Having signed Pat Elflein and Cam Erving on the first day of legal tampering, the Panthers followed that up by selecting BYU’s Brady Christensen in the third round and Alabama guard Deonte Brown in the sixth with Grambling State’s David Moore signed as a priority UDFA. Adding three new young players into the mix is important for several reasons. Firstly, it fits the larger pattern of the Panthers looking to get younger across the board and create a roster that can grow together. It also gives the Panthers a chance to create a long-term solution to their offensive line problem, which can hopefully form the backbone of the roster for years to come. This is certainly an approach that has worked out well for other teams around the NFC South, with the Saints unit being anchored around Terron Armstead (3rd round, 2013), Andrus Peat (1st round, 2015) and Ryan Ramcyzk (1st round, 2017). The result has been one of – if not the – best offensive lines in the NFL over the last four seasons.

I agree 100%

To me, Price's Chicken Coop was part of Charlotte's history and not it's gone. What a sad day.

Sad day indeed to know that Price's Chicken Coop will be closing.Not only was the Chicken great,the Perch Dinner was out of this world as well.

My money is on Terrace Marshall because of his size and length something the team hasn't had in a while. Plus, he can line up just about anywhere but looks like a perfect fit at the 'X' spot. If he develops into a consistent, reliable target then it may force Joe Brady to move either Anderson or Moore inside to the slot in some packages. Regardless of where Marshall lines up, he has the ability to emerge into the team's third best receiver.

One would think the local Charlotte Sports Media would mention him from time to time since (if) he lives here.

I think that is a big possibility.

Sorry!!!! I saw this to late.

The good thing about the combine is that you can compare athletes at the same position doing the same drills in the same place on the same surface at the same time. That can be valuable because there is no change in the testing conditions. What do you do in the NFL combine? Tests/evaluations include: 40-yard dash. Bench press (225 lb repetitions) Vertical jump. Broad jump. 20-yard shuttle. 3 cone drill. 60-yard shuttle. Position-specific drills.

It would be good for the Charlotte area and the local sports media would probably be able to do more coverage on the event.

Perryman does quality as a pretty significant upgrade at a position that was a point of need for us. Jermaine Carter did a respectable enough job at middle linebacker once Tahir Whitehead was finally benched last season. That said, Perryman has a far more impressive resume, notably his skills around the ball. Perryman is a quality linebacker who should definitively improve our young defense that needs a little more experience.

Horn wins defensive rookie of the year CMC makes the pro bowl DJ Moore will be a top ten 2021 receiver Brown improves by getting more sacks Darnold leads Panthers to 9-8, just miss getting in the playoffs

They may be Atlanta's two best backups at Defensive tackle as well.