With the NFL season five days from kickoff, the predictions are flying. Super Bowl picks, MVP guesses, rookie award chatter, division calls - everybody’s got a take heading into 2026.
For the Carolina Panthers, the outlook is all over the place. They’re in what might be the league’s toughest division to sort out, and that’s before even getting to the mess of last season, when three teams finished tied at 8-9 for the best record in the NFC South. Carolina took the division on tiebreakers, with the Falcons beating the Saints in Week 18.
This offseason brought major change to the Panthers’ roster through free agency, but the national temperature on Carolina still isn’t warm. There’s no real agreement that they’ll be better, or even as good, as they were a year ago.
That skepticism showed up on Fox Sports’ "First Things First," where Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, and Danny Parkins laid out their NFC South standings for 2026. The early read on Carolina was rough. Wright and Broussard both had the Panthers finishing fourth, and Wright went a step further by projecting a 6-11 record.
The one voice willing to go against that tide was Parkins, who put Carolina second in the division behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He still didn’t forecast a playoff team, but he did see enough to keep the Panthers out of the basement.
Parkins’ reasoning centered on two names. As he put it: "I love Tetairoa McMillan.
I think he could be a top-10 receiver by the end of the year. The Jaelan Phillips signing, I think, is a sneaky big one for their pass rush."
That Phillips addition already flashed in a Carolina uniform. In limited work against the Buffalo Bills’ first-team offense, he recorded a sack and a QB pressure.
The Panthers didn’t bring him in on the cheap, either, handing him a $120 million deal. That kind of money comes with expectations.
McMillan is already a known quantity in Carolina, and the second-year receiver arrives in 2026 off an OROTY season that included 1,014 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns. At 6'5, his smooth route running gives the Panthers a receiver who looks like he’s only scratching the surface.
If McMillan makes the kind of leap Parkins is imagining, Carolina’s ceiling changes fast. A 1,400-yard season from him would give the Panthers a chance to matter in division games and beyond.
In Other News...
Panthers Stability Could Soon Face A Dave Canales Reality Check
The Panthers finally gave themselves a little breathing room last season by reaching the playoffs at 8-9, and that has helped create the kind of stability Carolina has been chasing for years. Dave Canales is still the man tasked with turning that step forward into something more durable, but as always in this market, a solid year does not eliminate the pressure that comes with trying to build a long-term answer at head coach.
Mike Tomlin has already surfaced as one name to watch if the Panthers ever decide they want a more proven voice on the sideline, according to an NFL analyst who floated him as a possible candidate if he returns to the league in 2027. Tomlin is currently taking a year away from football after parting ways with the Steelers, who still hold his rights, and for Carolina that only adds another layer to a familiar question: how much patience will the organization really have if Canales cannot keep the momentum moving? [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Draft Outlook Already Hints At A Bigger Bryce Young Question
A preseason mock draft is a little unusual this far out, but it can still say something useful about where a franchise is headed. ESPNs Jordan Reid had the Panthers taking Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore with the seventh overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, a projection that points to how much attention Carolina could be paying to its secondary if the roster keeps shifting around Mike Jacksons uncertain future. Moore is viewed as one of the better cornerback prospects in that class, so the fit makes sense on paper for a team that may need to keep adding young talent on the back end.
The more interesting layer is what else the mock suggests about the Panthers long-term thinking. A quarterback could still enter the conversation later in that draft depending on how Bryce Young develops, which makes every early projection feel like it carries a little more weight than usual. Carolina does not need to decide anything now, but the fact that a future quarterback discussion is already hanging over a cornerback projection says plenty about how closely the front office will be watching Youngs trajectory. [Read more 🡒]
Bryce Young Just Became Carolina's Biggest 2026 Question
Bryce Youngs future in Carolina already has a complicated feel to it, and the next layer of uncertainty is arriving well before the Panthers have to make a final call. The team picked up his fifth-year option, which keeps him under contract through the next stage of his career, but it still falls short of a true long-term commitment. For now, the Panthers remain tied to a quarterback whose development has been closely watched from the moment he arrived.
Douglas Clawson of CBS Sports recently added another wrinkle by suggesting Young could wind up on the bench during the 2026 season if his play does not take the next step. That kind of projection only sharpens the pressure around a position that tends to define everything for Carolina, especially with the franchise still weighing whether it wants to keep building around Young or start looking elsewhere. Kenny Pickett is among the names being floated as a possible alternative if the Panthers decide the search has to continue. [Read more 🡒]