The great site Birds 24/7 ran a common, but interesting mid-July post earlier this week listing the top five most indispensable Eagles. Since the Philly quarterback situation is less than desirable, there wasn’t a no-brainer at the top of the list. Instead, it was safety Malcolm Jenkins.Here in Carolina, there’s no question Cam Newton is the Panthers’ most indispensable player. Behind him, most would say Luke Kuechly. After that, the order gets much harder, and it’s tough to choose just five.Besides Newton and Kuechly, I’d argue seven other names fall in the ‘Panthers are in trouble if he goes down’ category:

• RB Jonathan Stewart
• WR Kelvin Benjamin
• TE Greg Olsen
• C Ryan Kalil
• DE Charles Johnson
• LB Thomas Davis
• CB Josh Norman

Again, this is a list of the most vital players, not necessarily the best. So while guys like Kawann Short and Star Lotulelei are important, if something happens to one, there’s plenty of depth at DT.To get to a top five, four from the top list have to go. But who?Stewart doesn’t have a proven backup; Benjamin is literally Newton’s biggest threat; the run defense and consequently the entire unit fell apart when Davis was banged up early last year; there’s not a bunch of depth behind Norman.Despite all that, here are my top five, which you are free to grill me for either on Twitter or in the comments below.

5. Johnson

He may not be worth a $20 million cap hit, but Johnson is the Panthers’ only proven DE. After limping out of the gate early last year, he wound up with more than eight sacks for the fifth straight season. While coaches keep searching for a second starter from the Frank Alexander/Kony Ealy/Wes Horton/Mario Addison group, Johnson is pretty much a sure thing. For a defense that depends heavily on pressure from its front four, having at least one of those is much better than having none.

4. Olsen

When they both came to Carolina in 2011, Olsen immediately became Newton’s security blanket. Since then, Newton has thrown to Olsen for 25.6 percent of his touchdowns, 22.5 percent of his completions and 21.3 percent of his yards. So yeah, a Pro Bowl TE who accounts for one-quarter of the passing offense is pretty important.

3. Kalil

Michael Oher, Mike Remmers, Jonathan Martin, Daryl Williams and Nate Chandler make a better tackle group than the Panthers had last summer, but it’s still potentially scary. And while guards Trai Turner and Andrew Norwell had solid rookie years, the offensive line is controlled in the middle. Take Kalil out and you’ve got Brian Folkerts or Remmers at center and a line without an anchor.

2. Kuechly

One of Ron Rivera’s smartest positive points near the end of 2012 was that while the Panthers weren’t going to the playoffs again, they had found their two quarterbacks. In Kuechly’s three seasons, he’s led the defense to three top-10 rankings, finished atop the league in tackles twice and won Defensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Not bad. If it’s tough to imagine the defense without Kuechly, it’s because the Panthers haven’t played without him since 2011 when they were ranked 28th and he was at Boston College.

1. Newton

For so many years, Steve Smith was the most indispensable Panther. Remember all the times he was slow to get up or limped off the field? He was usually ok, but the fate of an entire team seemed to be up in the air during those, “STEVE’S HURT!” moments. Then the Panthers drafted Newton. Is it too much to call him the franchise? Perhaps. But no one is as vital to Carolina’s future success, or failure, than the face of the franchise.