27-year old DeAngelo Williams and 23-year old Jonathan Stewart give the Panthers a pair of 1,100 yard backs who have a contrast in styles.  Williams is faster than Stewart who is a battering ram type of back.  These two guys will make the young QBs on the roster have an easier go of it in 2010.  Williams played in 13 games (all starts) for the Panthers last season and he carried the ball 216 times for 1,117 yards (5.2 ypc) with 7 TD runs.  He also caught 29 passes for 252 yards (8.7 avg) last season for the Panthers.  Williams has now played in 58 games (31 starts) in his four years with the Panthers and he has carried the ball 754 times for 3,850 yards (5.1 ypc) with 30 TD runs.  He has also caught 107 passes for 861 yards (8.0 avg) with 4 TD grabs in his career.  If anything were to happen to Jonathan Stewart, Williams can handle a full workload.

Jonathan Stewart played in 16 games (3 starts) for the Panthers last season and he carried the ball 221 times for 1,133 yards (5.1 ypc) with 10 TD runs.  He also caught 18 passes for 139 yards (7.7 avg) with 1 TD grab last season.  Stewart has now played in 32 games (3 starts) in his 2 years with the Panthers and he has carried the ball 405 times for 1,969 yards (4.9 ypc) with 20 TD carries.  He has also caught 26 passes for 186 yards (7.2 avg) with 1 TD grab in his career so far.  Stewart, like Williams, can handle a full workload if DeAngelo were to need to miss some time just like he did last year.

23-year old 2nd year backs Tyrell Sutton and Mike Goodson will battle it out for the #3 RB job in 2010.  Sutton played in 7 games (1 start) for the Panthers last season in which he carried the ball 12 times for 68 yards (5.7 ypc) and caught 6 passes for 62 yards (10.3 avg).  Sutton also returned 14 kickoffs for 302 yards (21.6 avg) last season.  Sutton was a outstanding back at Northwestern and he might surprise for the Panthers despite being a tad on the small side.  Mike Goodson played in 8 games (0 starts) for the Panthers last season and he carried the ball 22 times for 49 yards (2.2 ypc).  He also caught 2 passes for 15 yards (7.5 avg) and he also returned 17 kickoffs for 352 yards (20.7 avg) last season.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE PANTHERS RBs in 2010:  A+

37-year old WR Mushin Muhammad has decided to hang up his cleats and call it a career.  Muhammad played in 14 games (13 starts) last season for the Panthers and he caught 53 passes for 581 yards (11.0 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He finished his 11 years with the Panthers playing in 155 games (141 starts) in which he caught 696 passes for 9,255 yards (13.3 avg) with 50 TD grabs.  Muhammad retires as the Panthers’ all time leader in receptions (696) and receiving yardage (9,255).  He is also tied with Steve Smith for the all time lead in TD receptions with 50 but he’ll likely be #2 on the list early in 2010.  Muhammad will be missed as he was one of the best players in Panthers’ history.

The Panthers have lost 27-year old starting linebacker Thomas Davis for the year after he re-tore his right ACL in OTAs.  It was the second time in only seven months that Davis has torn his right ACL.  He played in 7 games for the Panthers last season and he had 61 tackles, defensed 5 passes, had 1.5 sacks and he had 2 interceptions.  In his five years with the Panthers, Davis has played in 69 games in which he has 390 tackles, 22 passes defensed, 11 sacks, 8 forced fumbles and 3 interceptions.  This is a big blow to the Panthers who were counting on a healthy Davis to boost the defense.

25-year old Matt Moore is the only QB on the Panthers’ roster who has taken a snap in a NFL game.  That is one of the reasons that he will be starting under center for the Panthers when the year starts.  The other reason is that he played pretty good football last season after bumping Jake Delhomme from his starting job.  Moore played in 7 games for the Panthers last season and he completed 85 of 138 passes (61.6%) for 1,053 yards with 8 TD passes and 2 INTs (98.5 QB Rating).  Moore also carried the ball 12 times for -3 yards (-0.3 ypc) last season.  Moore has now played in 16 games in his NFL career and he has completed 148 of 249 passes (59.4%) for 1,783 yards with 11 TD passes and 7 INTs (84.5 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 15 times for 2 yards (0.1 ypc) in his career to date.  Moore is 6-2 (75%) as the Panthers’ starting QB.

2nd round pick Jimmy Clausen will likely be the #2 QB for the Panthers in 2010 but he will battle for the starting job down the road with Moore.  24-year old Hunter Cantwell will battle 6th round pick Tony Pike for the #3 QB job in 2010.  Pike will likely win the job as he has a higher upside than Cantwell does.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CAROLINA PANTHERS QBs in 2010:  C