Panthers' exhibition schedule set; regular-season slate expected next week

The Carolina Panthers will open their schedule against their branch campus in western New York – their preseason schedule, that is.

The NFL is expected to announce the regular-season slate next week.

Until then, the league tried to add a little hype to the August games by announcing the exhibition games separately Wednesday.

The Panthers will travel to Buffalo for the first exhibition before hosting Miami and New England the next two weeks. They’ll close the preseason Aug. 30 like they always do – against the Steelers (at Pittsburgh) in a game in which the majority of the starters on both teams will sit.

Pittsburgh is the only team the Panthers will face in both the preseason and regular season. For reasons stated above, neither team needs to worry about showing too much in the exhibition.

This year’s preseason schedule mirrors the exhibition schedule in 2015, when the Panthers overcame a knee injury to former wideout Kelvin Benjamin (during a joint practice with the Dolphins) to go 15-1 and reach the Super Bowl.

Carolina’s regular-season opponents include four playoff teams, highlighted by a road game against the reigning Super Bowl-champion Eagles.

The Panthers’ 2018 opponents are as follows:

Home: Atlanta, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Dallas, New York Giants, Seattle, Cincinnati, Baltimore.

Away: Atlanta, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland.

This story was originally published April 11, 2018 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Panthers' exhibition schedule set; regular-season slate expected next week."