Youth movement: Panthers’ trip to playoffs is building block for future success
The Panthers enter the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs with 30 players who have never played in a postseason game. That group — which features 11 rookies — is tasked with helping Carolina upset the visiting Los Angeles Rams on Saturday at Bank of America Stadium.
A whirlwind 8-9 campaign led to the team’s first playoff berth since 2017. The Panthers also captured their first division title since 2015. Most of the 31 playoff novices — accounting for roughly 58% of the 53-man roster — were along for the entire ride and played key roles in helping to get Carolina to the postseason.
The Panthers, despite their underwhelming win-loss record, are playing to win this weekend. The 10.5-point underdogs, as of Monday, have upset the Rams before — a Week 13 31-28 victory in November — and they aren’t afraid to use their young players in key spots. The 11 rookies — along with less-than 30 leaders like Bryce Young, Jaycee Horn and Derrick Brown — are a large reason why the Panthers curbed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ four-year reign as NFC South champs.
And as Young, Brown, Horn and the rookies prepare to make their NFL postseason debuts, Coach Dave Canales understands that — whether the Panthers win or lose — this is a vital moment for the team’s developing young core of players.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” Canales said Monday during a call with reporters. “Again, as much as I try to preach — we try to preach — to our group, ‘Every game is a championship moment, every game is a championship opportunity,’ you know, here it is, right in front of us now, we’re in the playoffs. And to try to make sure that our focus doesn’t waver or shift, like you have to do anything that you haven’t done before, it’s about the basics.”
Canales wants to keep the operation steady and focused this week. For the second-year head coach, playoff football is pretty simple: efficient execution leads to excellence.
“Football, this time of year, is about tackling, it’s about blocking, and it’s about being really efficient,” Canales said. “And with each round, the pass rushers get better and better. Here come the Rams, with a fantastic front five — the way they get after it, the way they play — these are the types of teams that are in the playoffs. And so, matching that energy, making sure we’re at our best has to be the focus.”
The Panthers have 22 players with playoff experience on the main roster. Of that group, only two — right tackle Taylor Moton and long snapper JJ Jansen — have been to the postseason with the franchise.
The other 20 players — including safety Tre’von Moehrig, outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum, running back Rico Dowdle and left guard Damien Lewis — have varying degrees of postseason history. Six of them — in an odd twist of fate — won Super Bowl LVI with the Rams following the 2021 season.
Those former Los Angeles players, along with former Kansas City Chiefs lineman Turk Wharton, will need to set the tone for the playoff road ahead.
Wharton, defensive end A’Shawn Robinson, safety Nick Scott, linebacker Christian Rozeboom, nose tackle Bobby Brown and guard Austin Corbett all know what it’s like to hold up a Lombardi trophy. Perhaps their words will carry weight when Canales is looking for leaders to step up and speak to the team on the importance of what’s in front of them.
“I’ve thought about that — it’s a possibility,” Canales said. “The night before the game, maybe lean on some of those guys who have that experience — who’ve been there and to feel what it feels like. And I would expect the message to be pretty consistent. You know, ‘Can we find our best football? Can we play with an energy? Can we play together?’”
“The teams that play together, that play the best football, are the ones that have success in the postseason,” Canales added. “So, hopefully, that’ll be the message from the guys. And beyond that, I know that they’ll be having one-on-one conversations with different players all throughout the week.”
The Panthers are in a position few thought they’d be in during the bulk of the 2025 regular season.
For the most part, they’re young, feisty and opportunistic. But a postseason trip can age a young group for the better.
They’re still be underdogs, but they’re growing. And that growth is paramount for the present and, more importantly, the future.
Update: Following Tuesday’s waiving of defensive back Demani Richardson, the Panthers now have 30 players without playoff experience on their main roster.
This story was originally published January 6, 2026 at 5:30 AM.
