The Carolina Panthers’ season has already taken a hard turn at 3-5, and the bad news keeps circling back to the same place: the offensive line. The defense has missed the mark from where expectations sat in the preseason, though injuries have played a major role there. The secondary has been especially thin since Week 3, but that could ease up this weekend with Will Lee listed as questionable and Mike Jackson returning to practice despite being listed as doubtful on Friday.
The bigger issue, though, is up front. Bryce Young has clearly taken a step forward.
His poise, conviction, ball placement, and subtle pocket movement have all been outstanding. Two years ago, when the Panthers were objectively awful, Young was the problem for the first half of the season.
That’s not the case now.
Instead, Carolina’s biggest headache is the offensive line, and Rasheed Walker has been right in the middle of it.
Walker was supposed to be one of the steals of free agency for Carolina. In 2025, he started at left tackle for the Green Bay Packers and excelled as a pass blocker.
Walker posted a 94% pass-block win rate, which ranked 11th in the NFL. He also allowed five sacks for the entire 2025 season with Green Bay.
Through eight games in Carolina, he’s already allowed five sacks.
The pressure numbers are even uglier. Walker has given up 45 QB pressures in 2026. For context, the league leader in pressures allowed is Spencer Fano, with 52.
Against Denver, Walker stayed in the starting lineup at left tackle, and the results were familiar. He allowed pressure again, and Nik Bonitto won the one-on-one matchup before forcing a fumble from Bryce Young that ended the game.
Walker was beaten badly on the play, though he also shouldn’t have been left isolated against one of football’s best pass rushers.
Still, the assignment failed, and Carolina doesn’t have much room to adjust because the offensive line is too banged up to make a change. If Taylor Moton were healthy at right tackle, Monroe Freeling would have to get a chance at left tackle.
The schedule doesn’t offer much relief either. After Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints, Carolina faces the Ravens, Buccaneers, and Vikings. All three rank in the top 13 in pass-rush win rate, with the Buccaneers eighth and the Vikings No. 1 in the league.
That’s a rough stretch for an offensive line that has already struggled badly, especially Walker.
In Other News...
Panthers Have An Ickey Ekwonu Problem They Can't Ignore
Ikem Ekwonus absence has become one of the quieter but more important questions hanging over Carolinas season. The Panthers starting left tackle is still working back from the torn patellar tendon he suffered in a playoff game in January, and he has yet to play this year, leaving the team to sort through both the short-term hole on the edge and the longer-term picture at a premium position.
The bigger issue is what comes next. Carolina picked up Ekwonus fifth-year option, but the contract situation could put him on the market after this season, and a player with his pedigree is the kind of lineman other teams will monitor closely if his recovery continues to trend in the right direction. The Panthers and Ekwonu reportedly want to keep the partnership going, which makes the coming months about more than just health - they may help determine whether a foundational piece stays in Carolina or becomes one of the more intriguing names available. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Are Still Alive But This Stretch Will Decide Everything
Bryce Youngs latest outing showed why the Panthers still have reason to believe, even after three straight losses. He threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns in the defeat to Denver, but Carolina could not overcome the kind of self-inflicted mistakes that have made this skid so costly, with turnovers and penalties again undercutting a performance that had enough offense to keep things interesting.
Even at 3-5, the Panthers are still tied for first in the NFC South, which is why the next few weeks loom so large. Games against New Orleans, Baltimore and Tampa Bay will go a long way toward sorting out whether Carolina can turn this uneven start into something more meaningful, or whether the division race slips away before the season reaches its stretch run. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Suddenly Have A Week 10 Problem Up Front
The Panthers are heading into their Week 10 matchup with the Saints carrying a familiar kind of late-week uncertainty, and this time it starts up front. Brady Christensen and Damien Lewis are among the players listed on the injury report, a reminder that Carolinas offensive line picture can change quickly from one practice to the next. The club also has other names in the mix, including Jaelan Phillips and Mike Jackson, as it tries to sort out availability before Sunday.
Alongside the injury concerns, Carolina continued to churn the bottom of the roster and practice squad. The team signed linebacker Claudin Cherelus and defensive tackle Cam Horsley to the practice squad, then brought back wide receiver David Moore after waiving him earlier. Ihmir Smith-Marsette remains on the practice squad with an injury designation, leaving the Panthers with a few moving parts as they try to stabilize the depth chart before facing New Orleans. [Read more 🡒]