On Wednesday evening, Roger Goodell and the NFL front office officially released the 2024-25 schedule, including marquee matchups galore and a few prime time game surprises. Among the notable developments in the upcoming NFL slate are games in Brazil, on Black Friday, and once again on Christmas Day, including a host of other notable tidbits as Goodell and company continue to try to push the game to new heights.
Two teams that don't figure to get a ton of attention this year are the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers, both of whom were near the bottom of the league totem pole this past season and, if the latest odds are any indication, figure to be just that once again in 2024-25.
“The New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers are the only two NFL teams to be underdogs in all 17 games this season,” reported betting insider Ben Fawkes on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter, citing the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Of course, it's unlikely that either the Panthers or the Patriots will actually go 0-17, but there is something to be said about the fact that oddsmakers looked at their respective schedules and didn't see a single game where they thought they had the better chance to win.
Two rough patches
Both the Panthers and the Patriots are going through foundational changes in their organizations at the current moment.
The Patriots struggled through another year of the Mac Jones era this past year before finally electing to trade the quarterback to the Jacksonville Jaguars. That opened the door for the team to select quarterback Drake Maye out of North Carolina with the number three overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Of course, the bigger story of the offseason was the departure of long time head coach Bill Belichick, which opened the door for Jerod Mayo to take the reigns in New England.
Recently, Mayo gave his early review of what he's seen from Maye so far.
“Early impressions of Drake? He has a lot to work on,” Jerod Mayo said, per the Patriots on YouTube (via Dan Morrison of On3). “He has a lot to work on, but I have no doubt he will put in the time. You didn’t see him out here yesterday, but he was here all night trying to get on the same page as everyone else.”
Meanwhile, the Panthers were unable to cash in on their ineptitude in the 2023 season, as even though the team finished with the worst record in the NFL, they were forced to give up their number one overall pick to the Chicago Bears (who used it to draft Caleb Williams) due to a previous trade.
It was overall a disappointing first season for former number one overall pick Bryce Young, although it should be noted that he didn't have a ton of help on either the offensive line or the receiver room.
In any case, both the Panthers and the Patriots will look to prove the oddsmakers wrong this year.
