5 NFL players who will benefit greatly from their new head coach

Shaq Thompson has a huge opportunity ahead him. 2020 will be his fifth year as an integral part of the Carolina Panthers. It will also be the first year he’s going to be the face of the linebacking corps, as future Pro Football Hall of Famer Luke Kuechly retired this past offseason. Let’s not overlook this being Thompson’s fifth-year option in Charlotte. It’s a huge year for him already.

While Carolina might be rebuilding, Matt Rhule will get this thing turned around in a year or so because that’s what he does. He did it in college at Temple and he just did it at Baylor last season. The Panthers may not be a good team in 2020, but Thompson will have his shot to be the face of the Carolina defense, while first-round pick Derrick Brown finds his footing as a rookie.

Carolina has a proud history at the linebacker position. With greats before him like the late Sam Mills, Dan Morgan and Kuechly, Thompson can finally step out of Kuechly’s massive shadow to be the superstar we all saw when he was at UDub playing for Chris Petersen. It might only be a one-year audition in Rhule’s Charlottean reign, but it’s one we’re certainly betting on.

It will be a trying year for the Panthers for any number of reasons, so they’re going to need to lean on savvy veterans in-house like Thompson and running back Christian McCaffrey to help see this rebuild through. Rhule has already brought in a lot of his Temple Tough guys to Carolina, but Thompson could be a personification for his new head coach at the professional level.