The Carolina Panthers run defense was an absolute disaster in the season opener against the Chicago Bears, and the team is making a personnel change heading into Week 2.

Panthers head coach Dave Canales confirmed after Friday’s practice that second-year defensive tackle Cam Jackson will be active this week, after being a healthy inactive in the season opener, as the defense prepares to face off against the Atlanta Falcons and star running back Bijan Robinson.

Last week, the Panthers knew going into the game that Ben Johnson’s offense would challenge them physically in the run game. Yet, Chicago still rumbled for 291 yards on the ground with both D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai eclipsing 100 rushing yards. The biggest question was why the coaching staff opted to leave their biggest, most powerful run defender on the sideline. Thankfully, it’s a mistake Canales is now correcting.

Why Jackson should have been active in Week 1, and will be in Week 2

Jackson is the largest player on the Panthers’ entire roster and brings a physical presence on the interior that Carolina desperately lacked against Chicago. The Bears’ offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage for most of the game, and the Panthers simply did not have enough power up front to slow down their ground attack.

“Cam, he’s ginormous,” Canales explained. “He’s a pocket-pusher in terms of pass rush and in the run game, he’s stout. He’s hard to move and has great length. He is our biggest human on the team. He’s a guy that just continues to take the right steps being in this program, being in that room with the likes of Derrick Brown and watching how they work. I’m excited for Cam to get an opportunity.”

Instead of using Jackson, Carolina relied on rookie second-round pick Lee Hunter alongside Brown. Hunter showed some flashes controlling the line of scrimmage, but the depth behind those two was thin with undrafted free agent Aaron Hall and TeRah Edwards filling in. Bobby Brown III also rotated in but left the game with a back injury. With Brown out for Week 2, that opens the door for Jackson to step into a larger role.

Bijan Robinson will present a major threat for the Panthers defensive line

The timing of this Jackson news could not be more critical. Robinson is the NFL’s scrimmage yard leader through the opening week and remains one of the most dangerous running backs in the league. Facing him without Jackson, like the Panthers did in Week 1, would have been a repeat of the same mistakes the Panthers made against the Bears. The Panthers will need a guy like that up-front.

“(The scheme) does put pressure on the front and the safeties show up from depth to fit into their gaps,” Canales explained. “But the front play, the front seven, we got to be really connected on that front seven to make sure that a lot of the runs are getting bottlenecked into alleys and that our guys can show up.”

This is a big opportunity for Jackson to prove he can be a key piece for this defense that they were missing in Week 1. At the same time, defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero has to clean up both the scheme and execution from the entire unit after the Week 1 showing. Personnel alone will not fix what went wrong against Chicago, but putting the right players on the field is a necessary first step.

The status of Pat Jones II will be worth watching as well for this defensive front

Another name to watch potentially getting back in the mix this weekend is outside linebacker Pat Jones II, who missed Week 1 with a back injury. Jones was officially listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report and it’ll be a situation the Panthers watch going into Sunday’s game.

“What Pat brings uniquely is just his physical style of play,” Canales said. “He’s a big man and plays with violence, great effort and strain, all those things. That’s unique in it’s own way, that’s his style of ball. Our guys play their tails off as well, but Pat certainly does make a difference when he’s out there in the run game and he’s versatile in terms of how he can rush.”

In Jones’ place last week, the Panthers turned to the next man up in Princely Umanmielen, who showed some signs of improvement this offseason. However, Umanmielen struggled with his containment off the edge against Caleb Williams, allowing the Bears quarterback to get out on multiple scrambles. In the run game, he only had one tackle as well.

We’ll see if Jones is able to suit up or not on Sunday, but actually turning to Jackson this time around should give the defensive front the boost they need to defend better against the run.