Rank the following Panthers linebackers from best to worst

[RickyManningJr]

Thomas Davis is good as anyone. I hope he can keep it coming for a few more years.

[shelbypanther]

If you are making a top seven/ten list of LB's, you have to put Fields in the mix, whether you agreed with his off field problems or not.

[GRWatcher]

I can so clearly remember the game with the Colts in our SB year ..... Morgan vs Manning. Up to that point, Peyton had been pretty unstoppable but Dan showed them how. He knew every one of Manning's signals. One of our best games in a year of great games.

[KillerKat]

If you want to say a guy like Will Witherspoon had a better overall career as a Panther than Dan Morgan, I don't know, the stats might say that. But for this particular thread where I'm assuming there are no injuries involved, I don't think you can rationally argue that Will Witherspoon at his best ever approached Dan Morgan. That especially holds true for Micheal Barrow and Carlton Bailey or, I don't know, James Anderson.

thing with Morgan though is he never really reached his prime. His best season statistically isn't better than the others. Injuries took away his prime just as he was about to approach it. We can only speculate what he would look like in his prime. However, I just judge based on what has actually happened instead of speculation. He had tons of potential, but his full potential could never come to fruition.

[d-dave]

Interesting question that I've been thinking about over the long weekend.  Looking at how they played, when they played, and their importance to that team?  That's a hard question.

 

So I'm looking at outside factors and their overall importance to the franchise as well as the field product.

 

1.  Sam Mills - as a player, coach and inspiration.  It's hard to really measure the importance he had on the Panthers first few seasons.

2.  Luke Keuchly & Thomas Davis - I've got to put them together because of how incredibly successful they have been, and how they feed off each other.  We have been so fortunate to see them just shut teams down!

3.  Kevin Green & Lamar Lathon - For a couple of years, they just wrecked the NFL.  What a fun combo to watch, and a combo that really spearheaded some wins for us.

5.  Jon Beason - Before his injuries, he was absolutely amazing.  He was on of the best LBs in the NFL for several years.  He made plays everywhere!  He was a leader, and everywhere he's been, he's made the Defenses better.  Got to give him credit for that.  He just happened to get hurt and open the door for Luke.  Bad timing on a stellar player.

6.  Dan Morgan - Dan was brilliant in flashes.  He inability to stay healthy belied an incredibly gift athlete who worked as hard as anyone else to be great.  I hate that his career was cut short, but then again, it gave Beason a chance to shine...Do we have a trend here?  Dan Morgan in the Super Bowl was on of the great individual defensive performances of all time.  

 

So maybe I cheated a little bit there =)  It's difficult to say who would have been better individually.  Are we playing behind the 2003 DL?  The 2013 DL?  Do we have a great secondary?  Or a marginal one?  In a vacum, Beason was probably the best because he never had a truely dominate DL in front of him.  He made a lot of plays himself.  Luke and Morgan really benefited from better line play.  Greene and Lathon benefited from Dom Capers D as much as anything else (or that the league wasn't prepared too well for the 3-4).  Then what do we say about Mills?  He played very well for a couple of years, but his main legacy is part of the Keep Pounding mantra which is going to be something this team remembers for the next 100 years (HOPEFULLY!).

 

Hard but good question.

[Toundra]

You'r missing 1 outstanding LB : Mark Fields

And 1 good LB : Will Witherspoon

[Chimera]

MLB/ILB

 

Luke

Mills

Morgan (injuries)

Beason (probably should be above Morgan, but Morgan could probably out-Luke Luke if he stayed healthy)

 

OLB

 

Davis

Greene

(Spoon)

Lathan

[Firefox]

Fields forever demeaned the Keep Pounding phrase when he and the 'roids took it to mean Keep Pounding Baby Mamas.

To hell with that POS.

[EMSMedic79]

No way Beason should be that high on the list over those names.

[WOW!!]

James Anderson and Spoon need to be on the list..

They were drafted here and spent more years here then Lathon did..

Barrow didn't do much to be on the list. .

[WOW!!]

No way Beason should be that high on the list over those names.

Beason 2 time all pro 3 time pro bowler. . Yes he is high on the list..

[PantherFanOne]

My order would be:

 

1 - Kuechly

 

2- Greene

 

3- Davis

 

4- Morgan

 

5-Mills

 

6-Beason

 

7- Lathon

 

[KendrickPanther]

If you follow the OPs guidelines. Beason is obviously high on the list. And I think Sam Mills intangibles are inflating his tenure. He was great for a number of reasons but not quite as high in terms of performance. Very good performances, but not on the Beason or Kuechly level. We are talking about a great player at the end of the line.

[Mr. Scot]

Impact overall - unlikely anyone beats Sam Mills.

On-field playing ability only - unlikely anyone beats Luke Kuechly.