Some people are fans of the Carolina Panthers. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Carolina Panthers. This 2025 Defector NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here.
Your team: The house that David Tepper haunts.
Your 2024 record: 5-12. I know what you're thinking: Five wins? There's no way this pile-of-shit franchise won five games last season. Stop trying to trick me. I am not tricking you. The fact is that this team, the one that went 2-15 in 2023, got rid of its best defensive player the following offseason, then did basically nothing to upgrade the roster, increased their win total by 150 percent in 2024. That's what we call "making the leap" ... over a small puddle of piss.
How did the 2024 Panthers pull off the impossible and make it into the second week of WYTS? They opened the season with back-to-back losses to the Saints (47-10) and Chargers (26-3), which were ugly enough that starting quarterback and 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young was gently placed on the bench (you have to be careful with Bryce, because he is very small). In came Andy Dalton, who tossed three touchdowns in Week 3 and led the Panthers to a 36-22 victory over the Raiders. Maybe a quarterback with a little bit of arm strength and the ability to see over the offensive line was all this team needed in order to achieve competency.
Not so! Carolina lost the next four games with Dalton under center, and then he sprained his thumb in a car accident. That left the team with no choice but to (gently!) toss Young back out there, and he ... did OK. Well, no, that's not really true, but the Panthers did go 4-5 down the stretch, which at that point was nearly a big enough accomplishment to raise a banner.
If it still seems impossible to you that this team won five games, well, you're onto something. That mildly respectable 4-5 finish to the season only looks worse the longer you stare at it: They eked out back-to-back wins against the putrid Saints and Giants by a combined four points, then needed overtime and a heroic Chuba Hubbard performance to beat the Cardinals. The final win of the season, Week 18's 44-38 overtime victory against a Falcons team that was trying to make the playoffs, can be counted as legitimately impressive for as long as it takes you to remember that the Falcons will always be frauds.
Your coach: Dave Canales, who only survived the 1-7 stretch that began last season because David Tepper realized that there was a decent chance nobody else would willingly take the job. Canales is the seventh head coach to work under Tepper since the hedge fund manager purchased the team in 2018, and would have suffered the team's third consecutive midseason firing if the axe had fallen in November. Tepper decided to save himself the embarrassment, though, and was rewarded with a slightly worse pick in the draft.
Canales, meanwhile, has an alarming amount of swagger for a guy who was a few fluky late-season wins away from presiding over the worst team in the league. "The sky's the limit for this group," Canales said at the start of training camp. "This is going to be a very competitive team. I don't think people are going to want to play us by the style of football that we play. I'm expecting that." OK pal, take it easy.
The story those quotes come from is a fun read, due to how hard it strains to recast a season that was 90 percent disaster as some kind of meaningful step forward. Benching Young after Week 2, an obvious panic move that was almost certainly undertaken at Tepper's direction, is retrofitted to be "a gutsy move that defines Canales." Who needs winning seasons or division titles when you can put "Benched my QB in Week 2 and then put him back in the lineup because the other guy got injured" under the Gutsy Moves That Define Me section of a résumé? This man will have a job for life. I'm expecting that.
He used to be addicted to porno.
Your quarterback: It's still the little guy. Young is entering his third season as the Panthers' starting quarterback, which is about the time you expect a guy who was drafted No. 1 overall to start demonstrating that he's capable of being the franchise savior he was selected to be. Young has 28 career starts under his belt, and it's pretty hard to find anything from those games indicating that he's going to avoid being a bust. He's thrown for more than 300 yards in a game just once, and tossed more than two TDs in a game twice. He's started 11 games in which his completion percentage was below 60 percent, and he's had 17 starts in which he couldn't crack 200 yards through the air. Beyond all that, he looks like he doesn't belong on the field. His base state is panic, he can't throw the ball downfield or to the sidelines, and he can barely hold his head upright under the weight of his helmet.
Is any of that going to stop some number of fans and pundits from talking themselves into Young, based on his performance at the end of last season? What kind of stupid question is that? How am I supposed to know what other people are thinking? You are free to decide for yourself whether 612 passing yards and 10 total touchdowns over the final three games of a season is worthy of the flame emoji.
I would love to see Young play well this year, because he seems like a nice guy and it's cool when idiosyncratic athletes can make it work. But even a decent season won't save this guy from busthood because of how much the Panthers traded away to get him. "It would be nice if he could throw for 300 yards in two games this season" is not the kind of thing you want to find yourself saying about a No. 1 overall pick who cost two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and D.J. Moore.
What's new that sucks: Honestly, not much. Canales might believe that this team is ready to be competitive, but the front office does not seem to share that opinion. They signed S Tre'von Moehrig, who is fine, and DT Tershawn Wharton, who was a depth piece for the Chiefs the previous five seasons and occasionally looked good because he got to play next to Chris Jones. Expect to never hear from him again. Trying to recreate the fantastic feeling that came from trading away Brian Burns, the Panthers decided to release their only decent pass-rusher, Jadeveon Clowney, in the offseason. He's been replaced by former Vikings LB Pat Jones II, who has 12 career sacks in 57 games.
The Panthers drafted WR Tetairoa McMillan with the eighth overall pick in this year's draft. He's 6-foot-5 and ran a 4.48 40-yard dash at the combine. This would be very exciting news if he played for any other team in the league, but all it means here is that he's going to have a lot of trouble bending down to catch Bryce Young floaters that are aimed at his ankles.
What has always sucked: David Tepper hasn't even been here for a decade and he's already threatening to go down as one of the worst owners in league history. A fanbase fully souring on an owner usually takes some time—there's a few seasons constituting a honeymoon period, then a period of excuse-making, and then the feeling starts to shift once the losing seasons and annoying quotes pile up. Tepper is an argument against the idea that familiarity breeds contempt; sometimes all you need is one look at a guy before deciding that you'd like to punch him in the face.
Tepper's speed run into infamy is rather breathtaking in its scope. He announced himself by firing Ron Rivera at the tail end of the 2018, denying the winningest coach in franchise history a dignified sendoff. He gave a seven-year contract to Matt Rhule, who won 10 games in his first two seasons, and then condescended to people after firing Rhule in October 2022. Interim coach Steve Wilks turned that season around, but Tepper shitcanned him anyway, handed the team over to Frank Reich, and then had the nerve to talk big shit about how he was going to "break the old boys' network." Reich lasted 11 games.
And that's just the on-the-field stuff. Tepper claimed "there never was [live] music" in Charlotte before he arrived, tried to throw a drink at his own fans, and menaced a local restaurant owner over a playful sign. Last season's lack of controversy and midseason firing may indicate that Tepper has finally learned to keep his head down, but it's much more likely that he will be coming into this season eager to get back to obnoxiously ruining everything. This is the kind of man who can only find satisfaction in making others feel miserable, who can only feel a twinge of happiness by making someone else unemployed. He's entering 2025 with a lot of pent-up desire, is what I'm saying. This guy's going to fire Canales after Week 5, give a press conference during which he tells a reporter to try smiling for once, and then go home to enjoy the most peaceful sleep of his life.
What might not suck: Xavier Legette has the greatest accent in sports.
HEAR IT FROM PANTHERS FANS!
Adam:
Because David Tepper may be the single worst current owner in sports, and he's *still* an upgrade over the previous owner.
Dan:
The Panthers always look desperate, as if they are hopelessly trapped inside a 500 square mile Panera Bread.
Which Charlotte is.
Pete:
First and foremost, the Panthers suck because David Tepper has ascended the Honorary Dan Snyder Throne (now with Truck Nuts) awarded to the most arrogant, least successful owner in the league. Since he bought the team the Panthers have had 9 starting QB's highlighted by broken Cam Newton, pre-KOC Sam Darnold, and current high school junior Bryce Young. He gave Matt Rhule a godfather offer, fired Frank Reich after 11 games, and his latest Head Coaching choice is the published author of a Christian based self help book detailing his porn addiction. We're in great shape.
On the positive side of the ledger, every Xavier Legette interview is worth watching because he has the funniest accent in the NFL. It's too bad he has hands like Roberto Duran, will inevitably lead the league in drops, and be off the team in 2 years.
There were multiple games last year where a ticket into the stadium was cheaper than a Miller Lite, and that still wasn't enough to convince fans to show up. This is the time of year where hope springs eternal, and my best case scenario for this season is a 7-10 finish leading to the 11th pick in the draft.
Keep Pounding
Mike:
My main enjoyment from last season was checking the various team Power Rankings online just to see that we weren't in dead last place. For most franchises in most seasons, a rank of say, #26 would be an out and out disaster. For us, it's a momentous occasion.
We got gashed on defense at a record pace last year, so of course with the 8th pick of the first round the Panthers select... a wide receiver. On the plus side, the player we should have drafted, linebacker Jalon Walker, was picked up by a division rival, so we'll get to see him terrify our middle-school sized quarterback twice a year. Should be fun!
I see the Buffalo Bills logo around here more often than the Panthers one. (Is there a rule that every western NY expat has to have at least one piece of Bills memorabilia on their car or person at all times?) Wouldn't you know it, the Bills will be in Carolina in Week 8. It'll be more of a home game for them than Orchard Park.
Tepper's recently managed to stay out of the public eye and not be overtly obnoxious, but it's always in the back of everyone's mind that he's an industrial-grade asshole, casting a shadow on the entire franchise. Even if somehow Bryce and Dave figure out how to put together a winner (absolutely not a given at this point), he'll still linger like a silent fart, ready to bring down any positive vibes the franchise might be able to achieve.
Sam:
My parents have been season ticket holders since the team's beginning. For any other team, this would feel like a brag. For this team it feels like... why? I've been to more Panthers games than I can remember mostly because I actively try to suppress those memories.
But there was one game that I will never forget. It was their inaugural season when they played at Clemson. They were playing Tampa back when they had those amazing orange jerseys. There was this Tampa fan (at the time I was innocent and I didn't realize he was drunk off his ass, but also he is a Bucs fan, so of course he was drunk) screaming his heart out "TAMPAAAA" and the newly formed Panthers fans responding "SUUUCKS!" He loved it. We loved it. The back and forth went on for an entire quarter before he left to get a beer and then forgot about it.
My favorite memory of this team is another team's fan.
Also, because I'm a masochist, I gave up on fantasy football last year and only drafted Panthers players. I spent an hour favoriting them and unfavoriting everyone else so they would be auto-drafted. I went 0-14. Something tells me they would've been available regardless.
Chris:
Hopeless Panthers Fan Here from N.C.,
I stopped watching them for the most part. Just not much to see.
I didn’t think our ownership could get any worse than the racist cheapskate Jerry II.
Boy was I wrong!
Enter: David Tepper!!! Hedge Fund extraordinaire (just the worst people).
He thinks the team got 100% better because he owns them.
Meanwhile he’s throwing his liquor drinks on fans at games.
So he took over the draft that we already screwed up and got a quarterback the same size as me.
I played ball in college but basically 0% of people should be playing NFL Football at this size (and expect to not get killed at some point).
Best I can hope for is to go absolutely winless.
Go Panthers.
Chris:
Even when Bryce Young came back from being benched and looked like he might be able to at least sniff the play of a league average QB, none of his receivers could actually catch a ball when it mattered. And most of the time it didn’t matter, anyway, because our run defense couldn’t stop a halftime baby race last year.
And I don’t care if he had a sophomore slump last year, I still can’t believe we passed on Stroud.
David:
When it happened, I was perfectly ok with Cam not diving on that ball (it was a great season, the nucleus is intact, etc.), but as years pass, I find myself angrier and angrier at Cam. WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU DIVE ON THE BALL!? IT WAS YOUR FUCKING JOB!!! (The grace shown to him was before I knew he was a complete and utter douche) This is what life is like for a Panthers fan, just living out past trauma year after year, and since this organization is too shitty to offer any new and spectacular trauma on the field, this must suffice. It is a miserable, Sisyphian existence. The inevitable consequence of this is me stroking-out, reliving the worst plays of the worst franchise in the NFL. Not only will I have been an active and eager participant in my demise, I will deserve it. Fuck Cam Newton. And fuck Dave Tepper with the veiny, brass-balls on his desk. He seems to have fucked off, but he's still an asshole.
Andrew:
I've followed this team for its entire meaningless existence. It's like cheering for a surrealist painting of a tire fire.
Other teams score garbage time touchdowns. The Panthers score garbage time wins at the end of 6-11 seasons to make pundits declare they're "gonna surprise some people" before going 5-12.
I will still watch every game this season.
Cameron:
What does it say about how much this team sucks that a season where they're projected to win like 6 games is the most excited fans have been in years?
The Panthers would've been the best team in the second half of last season if moral victories counted! When you're the Panthers, almost beating each Super Bowl team should count as two wins each. Just think Drew, our rookie first round pick at WR might've caught a pass that hit him in the hands to beat the Eagles in Philly if his diet consisted of anything besides squirrels and raccoons. Bryce Young had a promising end to last season, even though he remains the size of your average middle schooler and isn't tall enough to ride all of the rides at Carowinds.
Also, what did we do to deserve David Tepper? We're the Panthers! We don't matter! This franchise as a whole has barely existed for three decades, why are we the ones who have to be stuck with the 2020s reincarnation of Dan Snyder?
Much like any American that isn't an outright fascist, the Panthers are still chasing the high of 2015 and unfortunately I'll spend my whole life wondering what could've been as this team fails to have a winning season for the rest of my life (I'm 28 by the way). Sadly, the future of the Panthers still remains brighter than that of the US.
Want to be part of Defector’s NFL previews? It’s simple: just email us here and tell us why your team sucks. Next up: New Orleans Saints.
