Johnson's progress key to D-line's improvement

By Darin Gantt - daringantt@carolina.rr.com

CHARLOTTE -- Two months ago, the Carolina Panthers' defensive line was approaching being a weakness.

But with a few roster moves and the continued development of some young players — particularly at defensive end — the Panthers are once again putting together a group they can be proud of.

It's almost comical to say that, considering how much of a scramble they were in earlier this year. Never mind the offseason Julius Peppers drama, there was plenty to come. After nose tackle Maake Kemoeatu went down on the first day of training camp, they spent the next month sifting through the unqualified and too-narrow. They added the capable Louis Leonard in a trade, but when he was lost, they had to go out and sign veteran Hollis Thomas and trade for Tank Tyler to get back to respectable.

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“To start the season, end-wise I felt (was) a comfort zone,” Panthers coach John Fox said. “Again, you always tweak and adjust and improve certain areas at every (position). I think the position that we've kind of completely overhauled is defensive tackle. Two of the three guys that are in the rotation (Thomas and Tyler) there weren't even at camp with us. I think that's a tribute to the players involved and the coaches to get those guys trained and improved.

“I'm not trying to suggest that we're at some amazing level at this point, but I've seen improvement.”

For all the progress inside, the most might have been made by third-year end Charles Johnson, who's quickly proving to be player both inside and out.

Drafted as a short defensive end with decent quickness and good strength, Johnson has transformed his body and his game since his rookie year.

Now, he's playing solid snaps as a reserve end behind Julius Peppers and Tyler Brayton but shows best when he rushes as a defensive tackle on passing downs.

Johnson's second on the team behind Peppers with 3.0 sacks, and his six pressures are third behind Peppers and defensive tackle Damione Lewis.

The former third-round pick from Georgia credited much of his improvement to new defensive line coach Brian Baker, whose impact in Charlotte has been clear.

“I just try to get better with each play, learn from my mistakes,” Johnson said. “I know my role here, backing up Pep and Tyler, and then moving inside on third downs. Last year was difficult, but coach Baker's teaching me a lot of different techniques. Once I got those down, it's not that different from outside.

“You're just in a shorter span, you've got to beat your man quicker than you would outside as an end.”

Of course, the 6-foot-2, 275 pound Johnson has other attributes when he slides inside, namely his prodigious strength.

A number of teammates say that he's pound-for-pound the strongest man in the room. Coming out of college, he bench pressed 225 pounds an astonishing 33 times. He shrugs and grins when asked about his current weight room numbers, almost ashamed to say.

“Oh, I don't know,” Johnson said. “I think when we maxed out this year, or was it last year, think I did 540, 545 pounds.”

As much as he soft-pedals it, others are impressed by what he's able to do in the weight room and how in transfers onto the field.

“This summer, I didn't know what everybody was all about, and then he's putting up huge numbers, especially on the bench,” rookie defensive end Everette Brown said. “You just don't see many guys in there throwing up close to 400 pounds on their regular bench day. That's massive.

“I think it correlates hand-in-hand with the way he plays on the field. He's more of a guy who gets his hands on somebody and can control a tackle.”

Of course, working inside, the strength helps even more. He lacks Browns' natural pass-rush moves and raw speed, but in a short area, he can burst, and use that barrel chest and thick arms to muscle a center or guard back.

“That does help a lot,” Johnson said. “You have a lot of big strong cats in there. It helps, because I'm a smaller D-end, and people don't expect me to be that strong. I have to be stronger, since I'm a shorter guy, I've got to have an advantage somehow.”

Fox said he's seen a linear progression from Johnson, who began showing up the second half of last year, and finished with 6.0 sacks, which was second behind Peppers despite playing backup snaps.

“What we stress here is to improve, and I've seen steady improvement from a year ago to this year and really through each game,” Fox said of Johnson. “He's a young player that's getting better. We did have a change in defense; we did have a change in position coach; and I've seen him make headway.”

If nothing else, pairing the 23-year-old Johnson with the 21-year-old Brown gives the Panthers something to work with for the future.

While starters Peppers and Brayton will be unrestricted free agents this offseason, putting those two young ends with a core of defensive tackles including Lewis, Leonard, Tyler and injured reserve rookie Corvey Irvin (whether Kemoeatu comes back or not) isn't the worst place to start a rebuilding project.

“We complement one another, and each one of us brings something different to the table,” Brown said. “You enjoy playing with each other, we've got a lot of chemistry, here in the defensive line group. “

“We're still learning one another, knowing what we do. Now we're getting to that point where we kind of know what to expect from one another without talking.”