Photo contribution by Panthers Wire
There’s a new sense of hope in Charlotte regarding the Carolina Panthers. The team that floundered at the bottom of the league in the beginning of the season and looked to be in near-unrecoverable territory finished the season with a comparatively good record of 4-5. The strong finish to the season has rejuvenated both the Panther’s front office as well as their fanbase, and leaves the question… are the Panthers really back?
Just two weeks into the season, the Panthers decided to bench their field general in his second season in the league, Bryce Young. To many, the move signaled the end of the “Bryce Young Experiment”, and analysts flamed the Panthers for their decision to draft the former Heisman winner. On an episode of First Take in mid-September, Steven A. Smith even went as far as saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, JaMarcus Russell wasn’t even that bad, and you know how I feel about JaMarcus Russell. This is maybe the biggest bust in NFL history.” It wasn’t only analysts who felt this way; many fans of the organization had also given up on the team. With the former first pick of the NFL Draft benched little more than a season later, all signs pointed to a complete rebuild at the end of the season, continuing the team’s failures under David Tepper.
After Andy Dalton took over under center for the Panthers, there was little improvement. While the team managed to bag its first win of the season against the Las Vegas Raiders, the team lost its next five games. The bad luck for the organization looked like it would continue after Dalton injured his thumb and was ruled out for the Panther’s week 8 matchup against the Denver Broncos. The following week, the Panthers took on the divisional rival New Orleans Saints, however instead of suffering another blowout to the team that beat the Panthers 47-10 in week 1, Young led the team to its second win of the season.
In the team’s final ten games of the season, Young led the team to four wins, beating the previously mentioned Saints by just one point, and the Giants, Falcons, and Cardinals in overtime. Close losses to both the Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (OT), some of the strongest teams in the league, helped give the organization some of the confidence that it needed. Rather than be blown out by these teams, which certainly would have happened early in the season, the Panthers were able to compete and win against the rest of the NFL.
So what changed, and why should it give Panthers fans peace-of-mind this offseason? Firstly, the Panthers seem to have their franchise quarterback. At the end of the season, Bryce Young looked like an NFL quarterback; in his final three games, he had 10 touchdowns and no interceptions, the best in the league during that period. While Young has gotten most of the headlines following the closing of the 2024 campaign, head coach Dave Canales can’t be overlooked. So far, his leadership of the team has paid off, and his hire seems to be paying off. Speaking of Tepper, the owner seems to have taken a step back from trying to control the team, a major step forward for the organization. Since Tepper bought the team in 2018, the Panthers have had nine different starting quarterbacks and six different coaches. Both Tepper and Canales have expressed confidence in Young’s ability to lead the team, and a stable coaching staff and quarterback might be just what the organization needs to succeed. While the defense may have been the worst in the league, and possibly one of the worst in NFL history, defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero will return for the 2025 season. The defense was hit hard by injuries, but with stars Derrick Brown and Shaq Thompson returning next fall, the Panthers should be in a much better position.
The Carolina Panthers certainly have work to do, but the pieces seem to be falling into place for a successful 2025 campaign. Hope is back in Charlotte, and it seems like the Panthers might be poised to be back to being a playoff contender.