Despite winning just two games last season, there’s some significant reasons for optimism with the Carolina Panthers in 2024. The team has made a concerted effort to improve the offense around last year’s first-round pick, quarterback Bryce Young. They’ve given him more weapons in the offense with the additions of former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson, and drafted wide receiver Xavier Legette and running back Jonathon Brooks to further improve the skill positions.
Carolina also made efforts to improve the line in front of Young. It does Young no good to have weapons around him if he doesn’t have time to get the ball to those weapons. To that end, the Panthers spent big money in the NFL’s free agency period to bring in former Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Robert Hunt and former Seattle Seahawks lineman Damien Lewis.
To top it all off, the Panthers brought in a new head coach to try and inject new life into the Panthers offense – and the organization as a whole. New head coach Dave Canales has seen a meteoric rise through the coaching ranks over the last handful of seasons, due in large part to his ability to resurrect the careers of quarterbacks whom other teams had cast aside and written off. Canales has been the driving force in Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield coming back from the dead and revitalizing their careers. Now Carolina hopes Canales can do the same with Young.
How all of those additions mesh and contribute to the Panthers in 2024 remains to be seen, but at least one NFL analyst believes the team could be a serious playoff contender this season. Matt Holder, an NFL analyst for Bleacher Report, recently laid out free agents each NFC team should sign ahead of the 2024 season, and for the Panthers he doesn’t have a single free agent the team should sign. Holder believes the team is poised to be a playoff contender right now, and “there shouldn’t be a huge push to add a veteran starter and fill a hole”.
It seems like every year (19 of the past 21, to be exact) at least one team goes from worst to first in their division. Not only were the Panthers the worst team in the NFC South last season, they would have had the first pick in the draft in back-to-back years had the team not traded that selection to the Chicago Bears. However, with the additions the Panthers have made in the offseason, and the competitive nature of the division, a worst-to-first rise is well within the realm of possibility – if everything comes together. That’s a big “if”.