Block better? Sure. But if they want to score, Panthers also need to get it to this guy
It would be hard to blame DJ Chark for what went wrong in the Carolina Panthers’ 27-0 preseason-opening loss to the New York Jets Saturday: He only played five snaps.
Chark, the Panthers’ new and very fast wide receiver, was not much of a factor. In those five plays, he had one ball thrown to him by new quarterback Bryce Young, which he caught for a five-yard gain.
But for the Carolina offense to avoid similar struggles throughout 2023 — well, first they need to block better. But Chark also needs to be a very big factor.
Wearing the No. 17 made famous in Carolina by quarterback Jake Delhomme, Chark has shown a knack throughout practice for getting open and getting Young to trust him.
“Once you’re making those plays, it’s easy to have some camaraderie,” Chark said in an interview last week. He described Young as “smart and fearless” and said in practice, at least, he and the rookie quarterback have hooked up several times on deep passes that Young made happen with audibles at the line.
The two have had little opportunity in games to do that as of yet, but Chark is at least the type of player the Panthers have lacked ever since Ted Ginn Jr. sped off into the distance.
Chark also is keeping that 27-0 preseason loss Saturday in perspective, even though it was heavily featured in the latest episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” and at one point during the rout, Jets coach Robert Saleh said of the Panthers: “God, I love kicking people’s a----.”
As Chark said Tuesday: “I know what we have and what we are going to do. Three weeks from now, nobody is going to be thinking about the game we had against the Jets in Week 1 of preseason. It’s gonna be what we do against Atlanta (on Sept. 9, in the season opener). And we know that.”
Nicknamed “The Flash” when he played at LSU, Chark ran a 4.34 in the 40-yard dash at the 2018 NFL scouting combine — fastest among all receivers that year. He had a 1,000-yard season in only his second NFL season in 2019, at Jacksonville, and also scored eight TDs.
By comparison: DJ Moore, the Panthers’ No. 1 receiver for most of the past five seasons until he got traded to Chicago in the deal to draft Young, averaged only 4.2 TDs per season during those years.
However, Moore was far more durable than Chark, who has missed 19 of 33 games over the past two seasons — in 2021 in Jacksonville and 2022 in Detroit — due to a serious ankle injury that needed to be surgically repaired. Rightly or wrongly, Chark has picked up an injury-prone reputation among some, due to the past two seasons. That’s why the Panthers were able to secure a 26-year-old, lightning-fast receiver for a one-year, “prove it” contract for $5 million in guaranteed money this offseason.
“Make no mistake, I really wanted DJ,” Panthers head coach Frank Reich said in March.
“I know what type of player I am,” Chark said. “As far as the injury-prone thing, that’s neither here nor there for me. I’m out here to play ball.”
Chark and his wife, Chantelle, have a 2-year-old daughter and a 10-month-old son. So, yes, there are two....
Baby Charks — doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo...
(Ignore the previous line — and count yourself lucky — if you’ve never heard the earworm “Baby Shark.”)
“My son is a Detroit baby,” Chark said, “but my daughter was born in Florida. So she’s all about this. Being back in the South is great for me and my family.”
Carolina, which plays its second preseason game at 7 p.m. Friday at the New York Giants, got an assist in signing Chark from new running backs coach Duce Staley.
Staley was an assistant coach in Detroit in 2022, Chark’s lone season with the Lions. When asked why he came to Carolina, Chark said: “I think really a big part as Coach Duce… he was one of the guys that I spoke with often and he’s one of the guys that I take his word for what it is.”
When the Panthers first signed Chark, Reich pointed out his ability to create big plays.
“You need those chunk plays, and he’s been a proven chunk-play guy,” the coach said.
Chark has a career average of 14.4 yards per catch, and he has burned the Panthers for 100-yard receiving games twice as an opponent: with Jacksonville in 2019 (a career-high 164 yards) and Detroit (108 yards) in 2022.
And the chemistry between Young and Chark has been undeniable. “It seems like they connect every practice,” Reich said recently.
Now it’s time to see it in a game.
This story was originally published August 16, 2023 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Block better? Sure. But if they want to score, Panthers also need to get it to this guy."
