The rise of quarterback Bryce Young in the second half of the 2024 season means that for the first time since the Cam Newton era ended, Carolina Panthers fans have hope. At least on one side of the ball, there's a good reason to believe that sunny days are ahead. Their offensive line is awesome, they have an excellent starter at running back and Young may grow into a legit top-10 starter.
However, the sunny forecast for the future ends abrupty when we begin to talk about the other side of the ball. That's where the Panthers are as bad as they have ever been - and in fact worse than any other team in NFL history if we're going by scoring.
Before the Panthers are ready to compete for a playoff spot and potentially dethrone Tampa at the top of the division, they'll need to radically improve this unit, which has been ranked the worst in the league going into the offseason by Matt Johnson at Sportsnaut.
Sportsnaut on ranking Panthers defense 32
"The Carolina Panthers had the worst NFL defense in 2024. Already short on talent, Carolina suffered early season-ending injuries to defensive tackle Derrick Brown and linebacker Shaq Thompson. It resulted in a unit that ranked bottom-three in yards-per-play average allowed, pressure rate, QB rating allowed and the Panthers had the worst third-down defense and run defense in the NFL. A change at defensive play-caller (Ejiro Evero) is likely, but almost this entire unit needs to be overhauled."
If there's anything to like about this unit it's at cornerback, where Jaycee Horn has blossomed into a star and Mike Jackson was a pleasant surprise. Re-signing Jackson and extending Horn would keep this position group going strong at the top, but literally every other spot is going to need some major overhauling to get up to a repectable level.
To recap, Carolina needs depth on the edge behind Jadeveon Clowney and DJ Wonnum, they need a capable starter inside next to Derrick Brown, they need another linbacker to replace Shaq Thompson, and they desperately need to replace both Xavier Woods and Jordan Fuller on the back end.
That's a lot of holes to address, and it'll likely take more than one offseason of work to get the job done, if it's going to happen at all. Panthers fans are best advised to be patient with the defense and hope they find enough weapons for Bryce Young to stay competitive in the meantime.
