Fix the defense, Carolina Panthers: Nothing else is going to matter until you do
There’s no doubt where the Panthers must improve this offseason:
Their defense is indefensible.
The fact that there’s no “D” in the words “Carolina Panthers” was never more apparent than Sunday. Tampa Bay whipped the Panthers, 48-14, with former Carolina quarterback Baker Mayfield carving up his former team for 359 passing yards and five touchdowns. The 48 points allowed meant Carolina has now given up 496 points for the season — already the most in Panthers franchise history, with one game still to go.
At least three of the first four Panthers draft picks in 2025 must be defensive players, including their first-round pick (No. 6 overall, if the season ended today). A majority of the free-agency money has to go toward the defensive side of the ball, too. They’ve got to get some more defensive playmakers. And there are going to need to be some defensive staff changes, too.
Carolina (4-12) is injury-ravaged on defense, of course, with no loss bigger than when Pro Bowl defensive tackle Derrick Brown was declared out for the year after Week 1 with a knee injury. On Sunday, cornerback Jaycee Horn and linebacker Josey Jewell were both out with injuries, too.
Still, 48 points?! That’s humiliating. And it could have been more, had Tampa Bay not called off the pirates.
“They were on fire today,” Carolina coach Dave Canales said of the Buccaneers.
The Carolina team record for points allowed in a game is 52 (twice). Tampa Bay could have surpassed that — certainly Sean Payton would have tried to — but it decided to kneel down in the red zone in the final two minutes. Mayfield had been replaced by then — going 27-for-32 for those 359 yards and five TDs, he ended up with exactly the same number of TD passes and incompletions.
All of it reminds me of the Charlotte Hornets and the way every season people pretend it’s shocking that some of their players are getting hurt. You absolutely cannot blame injuries for everything. Everybody in the NFL and the NBA has them. Some teams simply cope with injuries better than others.
And let’s also remember that the Panthers gave up 47 points in Week 1 when they were largely healthy on defense before giving up 48 points Sunday. This is a team whose defensive performance started off awful in 2024, got a little better at times and now has reverted back to awful.
The Panthers permitted New Orleans to score on its first nine possessions in Week 1. They allowed Tampa Bay to score on the first five possessions in the next-to-last week of the season.
And if they concede 38 or more points in the season finale at Atlanta, the 2024 Panthers will set a dubious new NFL record for most points allowed in a single season (the Baltimore Colts gave up 533 in 1981, albeit in 16 games rather than the modern-day 17).
The one positive part about all this is that the Panthers at least don’t have to spend huge sums of money at quarterback in 2025, so there will be some cash available for defensive free agency pickups.
Bryce Young, still on his first contract and thus a relative bargain, once again played pretty well Sunday. The second-year quarterback still could use some more weaponry, of course, but Young at least looks very much like he should be Carolina’s starter in 2025. He threw two dimes to Adam Thielen for Carolina’s only scores and ended up with 203 yards passing, two touchdowns and no turnovers.
Next Gen Stats pointed out that Young was pressured on 68.6% of his dropbacks in the game, which was the highest pressure rate faced by a QB in an NFL game all season.
This was partly because of Carolina having no run game and partly because the Panthers fell so far behind early. Young and the offense missed injured running back Chuba Hubbard badly, as Carolina’s other running backs mainly reminded everyone of how good Hubbard actually is. But the offense is getting some things done, and will get more of them accomplished once Xavier Legette starts coming up with more contested catches.
“We just focus on what we can control,” Young said afterward.
The Carolina defense, though: Embarrassing.
Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero has gotten some head-coaching interviews in previous coaching cycles. In this one, he’ll be fortunate to hang on to his current job. Certainly, the Panthers’ defense misses Brian Burns (traded) and Frankie Luvu (a free agency loss), but there’s no way it should have ever gotten to this point. Evero’s adjustments out of his base 3-4 defense just haven’t worked.
The Panthers have been the NFL’s worst defense against the run all year, which is exactly the opposite of what Canales wants. Tampa Bay (9-7) had 33 first downs, 551 total yards and held the ball for more than 41 minutes while keeping its playoff hopes alive. It was rough stuff for Carolina.
Even a moment of levity — when a female mallard duck flew onto the field just before a Carolina punt — quickly evaporated for Carolina. While the TV broadcast kept focusing on the duck for a half-second too long, Carolina’s Johnny Hekker had his punt blocked and returned for a touchdown. The duck then waddled around the field for a while before being moved to safety.
Canales said after the game he was “just sick,” and in that way he certainly felt like a lot of Carolina fans. The team is limping to the finish line once again in December and January, with nothing to play for but that old chestnut, pride.
Carolina has lost 10-plus games for six seasons in a row, the longest active streak in the NFL.
To avoid yet another one of those years in 2025, this offseason has to be all about the D.
