With 2023 complete, an early look at the Carolina Panthers’ 2024 opponents
The Carolina Panthers know who they’ll be playing in 2024.
With the Panthers’ doomed 2023 campaign complete, it’s time to take an early look at next season’s opponents. Those include matchups with perennial Super Bowl contenders — some of whom will travel to Bank of America Stadium in 2024 — as well as other less-dazzling matchups set by NFL scheduling rules.
Case in point: With the Panthers finishing last in the NFC South this season, the team will face the last-place teams from the NFC West, AFC North and NFC North next season.
The official NFL schedule with dates and kickoff times will be released later in the offseason.
Take a look at next year’s matchups below.
All-time records are courtesy of Pro Football Reference.
NFC South opponents
As they do every season, the Panthers play a home-and-home series with each of their three NFC South foes. The division was among the weakest in the NFL this past year, and the Falcons, Saints, Bucs and Panthers — especially the Panthers — have a bunch of consequential questions to answer this offseason.
Here’s a closer look at these matchups in 2024.
Tampa Bay Bucs (9-8). The Panthers finished 0-2 against the Bucs in 2023 and are 25-22 against them all-time. The Bucs notched their fourth consecutive trip to the NFL postseason this year and clinched it via a 9-0 win in Bank of America Stadium in Week 18. Whether the Bucs will retain quarterback Baker Mayfield next season is still up in the air, for obvious reasons.
New Orleans Saints (9-8). The Panthers went 0-2 against the Saints this year and are now 28-31 in their all-time series. But both contests this season were close — with the Panthers holding quarterback Derek Carr at bay both games — and one was particularly consequential: the Monday Night Football game in Week 2, when starting linebacker Shaq Thompson went down for the year.
Atlanta Falcons (7-10). The Panthers went 1-1 against the Falcons and are now 22-36 against them overall. The Panthers, in a way, might have helped change (or at least accelerate the change of) the franchise’s direction when it defeated the Falcons in a rain-soaked contest Week 15. That game saw a rare Carolina win — and featured a late-game turnover by Falcons QB Desmond Ridder that ultimately set the Panthers up for a game-winning drive. That marked Ridder’s final start of the season.
Carolina Panthers home opponents
Even if the Panthers aren’t compelling on the field, Carolina fans can take solace in this: Bank of America Stadium will see some fun opponents in 2024. Among the home games on the Panthers’ slate: the Kansas City Chiefs, the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants.
It’s worth noting that one of these home-game designations is reportedly expected to take place in Germany.
Kansas City Chiefs (11-6). Most NFL fans know about the luster that the Chiefs can bring. Not only are they embarking on their third run at a Super Bowl in four years, they also have two of the biggest names in football — generational quarterback Patrick Mahomes and electric tight end Travis Kelce. The Panthers’ most recent matchup with the Chiefs came in 2020, but that contest was in Kansas City. The Panthers are 2-5 all-time against the Chiefs.
Dallas Cowboys (12-5). The city of Charlotte remembers what happened the last time the Dak Prescott-led Cowboys came to town: It was an invasion — on the football field and in the lower and upper bowls of Bank of America Stadium. The Panthers are 5-11 all-time against the Cowboys, who are looking to make another deep postseason run the next few weeks.
New York Giants (6-11). The Giants weren’t able to follow up a promising 2022 campaign with a postseason appearance, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that the team had to compete with the league-best Cowboys and Eagles in their division. Fun wrinkle: If the Panthers retain running back Miles Sanders, this game will mark a reuniting of great Penn State running backs Sanders and Saquon Barkley. The Panthers are 7-6 all-time against the Giants.
Los Angeles Chargers (5-12). The Chargers and the Panthers have something in common: They both fired their head coaches in the middle of the season. That means the Chargers, who the Panthers are 6-1 all-time against, will be competing this offseason over the same head coaching candidate pool.
Arizona Cardinals (4-13). The Cardinals, the last-placed team out of the NFC West, got off to a relatively promising start before their plummet this season. Still, a healthy Kyler Murray spells possibility for any team. The Panthers are 14-6 all-time against the Arizona NFL franchise.
Cincinnati Bengals (9-8). The last-placed team out of the AFC North will travel to Bank of America Stadium this year — but that doesn’t mean there won’t be star power on the opposing side. Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase will provide that stardom when the Bengals come to town. The Panthers are 3-3-1 against the Bengals; that is the only tie in the Panthers history.
Carolina Panthers away opponents
Philadelphia Eagles (11-6). The Eagles have a Super Bowl to chase and are likely not all that concerned with their matchup with the Panthers at Lincoln Financial Field in a year. But there looms another Alabama quarterback matchup — Bryce Young versus Jalen Hurts — and a chance for the Panthers to improve off their 5-8 all-time record with the Eagles.
Denver Broncos (8-9). The Broncos have a rebuild incoming after reportedly expecting to part ways with quarterback Russell Wilson. So what this game might lack in consequence, it should make up for in closeness. Carolina is 2-6 against the Broncos all-time. One of those losses came Feb. 7, 2016, when the Panthers lost in the franchise’s second Super Bowl appearance.
Las Vegas Raiders (8-9). The Raiders have some decisions to make at the head coaching position. Interim leader Antonio Pierce has officially won over the locker room — much like Steve Wilks did with the Panthers a year ago — but change still will come for this Las Vegas team. It’s safe to say the Panthers and Raiders should look a lot different in 2024 than they each did in 2023. The Panthers trail in the all-time series, 3-4.
Washington Commanders (4-13). Longtime football fans in the Carolinas will remember Washington as their first team, and that thus gives this one some intrigue. Outside of that, though — at least for the moment — there’s not much cooking here for a matchup between the two last-placed teams in their respective divisions. Carolina is 7-10 all-time against Washington.
Chicago Bears (7-10). With the Bears’ loss to the Packers on Sunday, Chicago locked up fourth in the NFC North and will thus land on the Panthers’ schedule in 2024. The Bears and Panthers have been intertwined of late, particularly with the Panthers gifting the Bears the No. 1 overall pick this upcoming draft. Carolina is behind in the head-to-head series, 4-8.
This story was originally published January 6, 2024 at 12:00 AM.
