The Carolina Panthers are heading into training camp with a defense that drew plenty of attention this offseason, but not all of it is glowing. On Tuesday, the reigning NFC South champions open camp, with rookies reporting on July 21 and veterans arriving a day later. Then Dave Canales’s team will get its first preseason action on Thursday, August 6, when it meets the Arizona Cardinals in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.
One of the more surprising questions raised about Carolina came from Josh Edwards of CBS Sports, who identified the Panthers’ secondary as the biggest roster need for Ejiro Evero’s defense. Edwards pointed to the team’s heavy spending on defense in free agency, including linebacker Devin Lloyd and edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, while noting that the secondary remains the area that could use more elite talent.
“The team spent big on defense in free agency,” explained Edwards, “bringing in linebacker Devin Lloyd and edge rusher Jaelan Phillips. Lloyd’s presence could have a positive impact on Trevin Wallace, a talented player.
The area lacking elite talent is the secondary, where Carolina could use help at cornerback or safety to support Jaycee Horn. Mike Jackson played above expectations, but is that sustainable?”
That last part stands out because Jackson has been one of Carolina’s better finds in recent years. Acquired in a 2024 trade from the Seattle Seahawks, he has started every game for Canales’s club and has put together a strong two-year run in Charlotte.
Across that span, Jackson has six interceptions, 34 passes defensed and two fumble recoveries. One of those picks turned into a touchdown when he took a Matthew Stafford throw back for a score in Week 13 this past season.
He also made his presence felt again in the wild card round, even though the Panthers fell 34-31 to the Rams. Jackson intercepted Stafford once more in that game and added three tackles and four passes defensed.
Via Pro Football Focus, Jackson finished this past season with an 83.5 grade at the position, trailing only Seattle’s Devon Witherspoon (90.1) and Pittsburgh’s James Pierre (86.2), who is now with the Minnesota Vikings. For a former 2019 fifth-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys, that’s a pretty good place to land - and it helps explain why he and Horn have become one of the league’s better cornerback pairings.
Horn, meanwhile, enters 2026 coming off back-to-back Pro Bowl selections. Together, he and Jackson have helped change the look of Carolina’s pass defense.
In 2024, the Panthers gave up an NFL-high 35 touchdown passes over 17 games. This past season, including the playoff loss to Los Angeles, Evero’s defense allowed 23 passing touchdowns in 18 contests.
Carolina also added more help in the draft, selecting cornerback Will Lee III in the fourth round from Texas A&M and safety Zakee Wheatley in the fifth round from Penn State.
So while the secondary drew the spotlight in Edwards’s breakdown, the Panthers may still have a path to quieting those concerns. If Phillips and Lloyd can help boost a pass rush that has been underwhelming for too long, the pressure on the back end could look a lot different.
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Panthers Face A Defining Call On Who Really Fits The Core
The Panthers are already staring at a tricky roster-management test as they sort out which pieces belong in the long-term core and which ones are better viewed as short-term building blocks. Mike Jackson, Bryce Young, Rasheed Walker and Damien Lewis are all in the mix for possible extensions, and each case comes with its own layer of performance, position value and team direction. For a front office trying to turn a young roster into something sustainable, these are the kinds of decisions that can quietly shape the next few seasons.
Jacksons future looks especially tied to how Carolina views its cornerback depth after the draft, while Walkers path is complicated by the teams broader plans at left tackle. Lewis has put himself in position to stay in the conversation if his play remains steady, and Young remains the biggest swing of all because his next step will influence everything around him. The Panthers do not have to settle every answer right now, but the way they handle these four cases should tell plenty about which players they see as part of the foundation. [Read more 🡒]