The Carolina Panthers are one of the more interesting teams in the NFL for all the wrong reasons. The team was founded in 1993 and since their inception have never had back to back winning seasons. The franchise was bought in 2018 by now Owner David Tepper. Tepper was hoped to be the savior Carolina needed, bringing in a new coach and hopefully new talent to bring them back to the top. Sadly for the Panthers faithful Teppers tenure to this point has been a disaster. Countless controversies, horrible on field product and a whopping 7 different head coaches (including interims). The beginning of 2024 was to be another new beginning for the team. Quarterback whisperer Dave Caneles was brought in to try and make sense of 2nd year QB Bryce Youngs early woes. The team traded for Steelers receiver Dionte Johnson in the offseason and picked up multiple other weapons through the draft. Ja’Vonte Sanders and Jonathan Brooks, and undrafted receiver Jalen Coker are just a few of the additions. Those additions unfortunately were accompanied by major losses on the defensive side including Frankie Luvu, Jeremy Chinn, and superstar pass rusher Brian Burns.
The season started off terribly. Bryce Young had a combined 245 yards passing 0 touchdowns and 3 interceptions in the first two games. Then in a move that shocked almost everyone not named Dave Canales, Young was benched, leaving Andy Dalton to lead the offense. The Panthers won Dalton’s first start and things seemed to be looking up…they then lost their next 5 games. The first half of the year in Carolina to outsiders could be described as miserable and unwatchable but to long time fans it’s just more of the same. As fans were ready to pack it in weeks before the season even ended and lose hope on the franchise as a whole something miraculous happened. Bryce Young started to get better. I’m not just talking about a marginal improvement, this was a full scale turn around. His decision making was vastly improved and his ball placement was back to where it should be and his confidence was through the roof. This is the kind of play expected out of the Alabama product when he was taken with the first overall pick just two years ago. He even earned himself a nickname, The Carolina Reaper.
With that being said Young could only do so much to help the squad who finished the year 5-12. They traded Dionte Johnson to the Ravens before the Young breakout, the defense was the worst in the entire league and Jonothan Brooks got injured again the second he was cleared to play. Frankly not much went right for the Panthers this year. Besides the stellar play of Young and Coker, and the glimmer of hope Canales has given the fans, the team is in pretty rough shape. Here’s what they can do to turn it around.
Free agency is going to be surprisingly difficult for Carolina due to their limited cap space. They currently sit with the 20th most available space in the league behind teams like Philly and Jacksonville. What is so confusing about this metric is how much more talented those two rosters are than Carolina’s is, so where is the money going? Well to keep it simple most of it is going to the offensive line. This is so far money decently spent as the unit finished just outside the top 10 in sacks allowed. The rest is being dumped into their defensive stars including star corner Jaycee Horn, the underrated Derrick Brown, and the unaging Jadeveon Clowney. But after that there are a lot of questions. Players who are aging quickly and don’t fit the team’s timeline or signings that looked good on paper when they were brought in but barely play a role on the team are taking up loads of cap space. Miles Sanders, Adam Theilen, Shy Tuttle, and A’Shawn Robinson all fit that category. And yes I know that Tuttle and Robinson are both starters but with how bad the Panthers rushing defense was this year let’s not pretend that they really are worth the almost 10 mil a piece they made this season alone. On top of this the team has some tough resign decisions to make with long time linebacker Shaq Thompson and center Austin Corbett needing new contracts. Both players have a bit of an injury history including both suffering season enders this year, but considering the lack of depth the Panthers have at linebacker and the amount of competition they’ll be for centers in free agency the Panthers might be better off biting the bullet and getting the deals done. They also have to decide whether they are bringing back their special teamers punter Johnny Hekker and kicker Eddie Pinero or are moving in a new direction. With all this in mind this means the Panthers will have little money to play with and even if they snag a good player off the open market they will still have to do most of their damage in the draft.
The Panthers will have another 10 selections for this year’s NFL Draft and a plethora of picks further down the line including 2 fourths and 3 fifths for day 3. The question is what does Carolina need to do with those selections. We’ll state the obvious they need to make them count, to state maybe the even more obvious they need to hyper focus on the defensive side. Bryce Young’s improvement means nothing if he has no defense to back him up or bail him out in a tough game. The defense needs help at pretty much every level, though linebacker and pass rusher are particular needs. The team could also use another receiver to complement Jalen Coker and drag attention away from other playmakers like Ja’Tavion Sanders. That being said I could see them using their 8th overall pick on guys like Penn States EDGE Abdul Carter or Arizona States WR Teteroia McMillan. Other players I could see go at this spot include Georgia LB Jalon Walker, and Mizzou WR Luther Burden. This is a very deep edge class with tons of talent down the board so even if the Panthers miss out on Carter they can most likely scoop someone up in the later rounds, but receivers and linebackers won’t be so easy to get as the draft goes on. That’s why I personally like the idea of them going with someone like Nic Scourton or Donovan Ezeiruaku in the following rounds. Then on day three they can start to look for corners to pair with Jaycee Horn like Cobee Bryant or Maxwell Hairston to name a few.
Carolina is in a fairly unique position heading into next year. I say fairly unique because ironically New England is in a pretty similar situation. The team’s roster is barren but they have their quarterback of the future, now they just need to build the rest. It will probably take a few years but things are looking up for the lowly Panthers. Soon the team and fans alike might be reaping the rewards of a season built off the back of this one. For the meantime though, anyone in Carolina can “Keep Pounding”.
