Panthers did a lot to add leadership to their roster

CHARLOTTE – One of the cliches being thrown around as often as footballs during the Carolina Panthers' optional summer-school sessions the past three weeks was "leadership."

Yeah, you've heard it before, a million times. Makes you want to barf, right?

But as the Panthers head their separate ways for a break before returning to Spartanburg, S.C., for the start of training camp on July 25, there is a sense that leadership will an intangible strength of this year's team.

That wasn't the case last season, for a variety of reasons, when the Panthers went through a five-game losing streak in mid-season and finished 7-9, missing the playoffs for the second straight year.

So cliche or not, it's right up there as one of the biggest off-season acquisitions --or re-acquisitions -- of the off-season.

Jake Delhomme, injured in the third game last season, is back at quarterback and is clearly the biggest and most influential leader on the team. He throws wobbly passes and makes bad decisions at times, but he plays with heart and has the qualities that command his teammates' respect and bring those around him together.

Others with leadership qualities have been added to the roster, particularly receiver Muhsin Muhammad. Others continue to emerge as leaders, particularly linebacker Jon Beason, who continued to get better and more comfortable as his rookie season progressed last year.

Yes, the Panthers need to get more physical on the offensive line, establish the running game, get more pressure from their defensive line and improve on many tangible weaknesses that were evident last season. But the intangibles are significant, too.

Coach John Fox talked about the leadership issue after the team wrapped up its summer-school sessions on Thursday.

"I think we've got good guys, guys like Moose that are excellent locker room guys, leaders, and they are pros and they know how to act," Fox said. "Those young guys have a good role model. I think we've got more of those kinds of guys. Missing Jake last year, not just because he's our quarterback, but he's kind of our spark on that side of the ball. A lot of those things, that's what a team is. And hopefully we've improved this year."

The leadership last season, frankly, was missing after Delhomme went out. David Carr, who initially replaced Delhomme, was not a leader by nature and after he started struggling, his teammates lost their confidence in him. Vinny Testaverde, who came out of retirement, clearly had leadership qualities. But he was hurt often and overmatched sometimes and wound up turning the job over to Matt Moore, a rookie feeling his way from game to game.

Nobody else picked up the slack and emerged as a true leader on the offense. Jordan Gross was a leader on the line to a degree, but he's not a fiery leader by any means. Steve Smith is fiery and certainly had the work ethic, but he became frustrated as the team's struggles continued.

On defense, some of the long-time leaders either were missing or past their prime. Mike Minter retired before the start of the regular season. Mike Rucker remained as classy as ever, but his skills were deteriorating and so his clout suffered a bit. He retired this off-season. Dan Morgan, an inspiration to his teammates because of his work ethic, was lost for the rest of the season in the third game at Atlanta -- the same day Delhomme went out.

Kris Jenkins was outspoken enough to challenge his teammates publicly, but that didn't rally much support and was hardly a case of leadership in action. And Julius Peppers, challenged by owner Jerry Richardson to take a bigger leadership role in Minter's absence, had one of his least productive seasons.

The off-season moves to bring back Muhammad and get rid of Jenkins are two examples of the Panthers' desire to address the leadership issue. Muhammad and D.J. Hackett should complement Smith at receiver and take some of the pressure off Smith, but Muhammad also may be able to succeed where Smith couldn't as a mentor to Dwayne Jarrett, who struggled as a rookie last season but pleased the coaches this spring.

And just having Delhomme back improves matters significantly.

"I really like what I've seen," Delhomme said. "We've got some guys that want to work. I think we've filled a big leadership void on this team this off-season. It's real good. So we'll see what happens."

Fox has been pleased with what has happened so far, and understandably so.

"I've been real impressed with our offseason, both with the new guys and the kind of conditioning and effort the guys gave, even our veteran guys," Fox said. "I like what I see so far. And now we've just got to stay healthy and do the rest of the work in Spartanburg."