FAMILIAR FACES, NEW ROLES?
Kemoeatu (6-foot-5, 345 pounds) and Lewis (6-foot-2, 301 pounds) are the old faces inside absorbing a tweaked defensive scheme that allows them to attack opposing quarterbacks in a more freewheeling manner than recent years.
"I kind of look forward to the challenge, to the freedom and powers they've given us up front to be a little bit more creative," Lewis said. "I like it. I'm getting into what we're doing and the defensive calls and stuff like that, trying to see how I fit in with it, move with it and just feel it out, because it's completely different."
Kemoeatu started 13 of the Panthers' 16 games at left defensive tackle last year, while Lewis managed to lead the defensive line with 3.5 sacks in spite of starting just two games in 2007.
The adjustments up front could help Lewis -- who signed a three-year contract extension this offseason -- cement his role.
"We're doing more attacking up front. More blitzes," he said. "A lot of them are going to seem the same to our opponent, but I think it will give us an advantage, because they won't be able to read what we're doing by how we're lining up. That's basically it. It's really not too much more complicated than what we were doing last year."
Just as with Scott and Walker, a series of knitted threads linked ends Stanley McClover and Charles Johnson. Both play defensive end, stand 6-foot-2 and were selected by the Panthers after standout careers in the Southeastern Conference -- McClover a seventh-round pick in 2006 from Auburn; Johnson a third-rounder the next year from Georgia.
"They are both young players who are getting better," Fox said. "That's the secret to this League -- to draft well and develop your young players, and we think those are two of those kinds of guys."
Of the two, only Johnson has been in Carolina's starting lineup, with two starts at left defensive end in the final two games last year after Peppers was placed on injured reserve. The future of Carolina's defensive line may ride on the continued development of Johnson and McClover -- as well as the progress of second-day draft picks Taylor and Hayden.
Rounding out the returning veterans are defensive tackles Gary Gibson and Stephen Williams.
Gibson (6-foot-3, 285 pounds) saw the first -- and to date, only -- regular-season playing time of his career at Green Bay last November; he was inactive for the final seven games after notching one tackle in relief of Lewis, who sat the Packers game out with a shoulder injury.
Williams (6-foot-2, 306 pounds) rejoins the Panthers after a preseason shoulder injury curtailed his campaign last season. All of his regular-season experience -- 11 games -- came as a rookie with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2006.
NEXT IN LINE -- THE YOUNG NEWCOMERS
Carolina waited until the final two rounds before drafting any defensive linemen this year. What they found waiting was a four-year starter from the Big Ten and an athletic defensive end who blossomed in his senior year with 10.5 sacks -- two more than he had in the previous three seasons combined.
Hayden (6-foot-4, 292 pounds), the Big Ten product from Wisconsin, was described by director of college scouting Don Gregory as a "hard working country boy" and could eventually find a place in the inside rotation as a run-stopper. He excelled in that role for the Badgers, logging 132 tackles and six fumble recoveries during his four years there.
Taylor (6-foot-2, 250 pounds) is a lean, athletic end who saw some time at linebacker throughout summer school and could eventually find a home as a hybrid pass-rusher roaming throughout Carolina's front seven, which would give him ample opportunity to display the speed he brandished at North Carolina's pro day in March.
"Before pro day, teams were mostly looking at me as a (lineman), saying my hips weren't fluid enough," said Taylor, who was not invited to the National Scouting Combine in February. "But at pro day they worked me out. My (40-yard dash) speed wasn't a 4.7 like they expected but a 4.5 flat, and I moved and impressed a lot of people."
Including Fox.
"We were in the bottom third of the League in third-down defense last year, which is an area we have to get better at, rushing the passer with a four-man rush, and we think he's going to help address that," said Fox.
Undrafted free-agent defensive end Casper Brinkley (6-foot-2, 259 pounds) completes the baker's dozen of defensive linemen, joining Carolina after a two-year stint at South Carolina where he logged 10 sacks and 26.5 sackles for losses.
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