The Carolina Panthers enter the year with a long list of questions, but the one that matters most isn’t the one hanging over Bryce Young or the offense.
Yes, there’s plenty to sort out on that side of the ball. The revamped offensive line still has to come together.
Healthy players need to come back and fit in. The weapons group remains thin.
Bryce Young has to keep moving forward. Even with the NFC South title and that playoff push against the Los Angeles Rams, the bigger picture still feels unsettled, and 2026 looms as a major year for everyone involved.
Still, the real pressure point sits on defense, where Ejiro Evero now has something he hasn’t had much of in Carolina: talent.
Evero’s run as defensive coordinator has been defined by limited personnel and underwhelming results. That part hasn’t changed.
What has changed is the roster around him. The Panthers have a standout player, or at least a strong one, at every level of the defense, and that shifts the conversation.
The central question is simple: what happens when Evero gets actual pieces to work with?
Carolina clearly believes the answer can be better than what the results have shown so far. The team stuck with him because it thought he could do more with better players. Now he has them, and that puts the spotlight squarely on him.
The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen framed it that way, and it’s hard to argue with the logic. He wrote, "Evero is respected around the league and has had serious consideration as a head coach candidate despite poor defensive production in Carolina. People in the league seem to understand that he’s had awful rosters to work with," Nguyen began.
He added, "Last year, after adding talent, the Panthers finished 22nd in defensive DVOA, FTN’s efficiency metric. This year, they signed rusher Jaelan Phillips and linebacker Devin Lloyd. Evero has the talent that he needs to build the best defense that the Panthers have had in a long time."
That’s the bar now. The Panthers have made it clear they want to be a defensive team and lean on that unit.
If Evero can turn this group into something dependable, Carolina has a path. If he can’t, the defense may end up being the reason the season goes sideways, not the offense.
The question is whether Jaelan Phillips, Devin Lloyd, and a rookie mix that includes Lee Hunter, Will Lee, and Zakee Wheatley are enough. We’re about to find out.
In Other News...
Bryce Young Trade Still Haunts The Panthers For One Reason
The 2023 deal that sent the No. 1 overall pick to Carolina is still one of the defining moves of the Bryce Young era, because it did not just land the Panthers their quarterback, it set Chicago up with the kind of draft capital that can reshape a roster for years. The Bears turned those picks into a wave of players, including Caleb Williams, Darnell Wright, Tory Taylor, Tyrique Stevenson and Luther Burden, giving the trade a footprint that keeps growing well beyond draft weekend.
For Carolina, the lingering sting is not only about Youngs early progress, but about how much the other side has already gotten from the transaction. Chicagos haul has produced more immediate depth and impact, while the Panthers are still waiting for the move to fully justify itself on their end. Even so, this is the kind of trade that can look different a year from now if Young keeps developing and Carolina starts cashing in on the quarterback it paid so dearly to land. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Secondary Could Get Even Scarier With This Early Projection
A new 2027 NFL mock draft from Bleacher Reports Scouting Department has already put the Panthers in a familiar place: eyeing the secondary. The projection has Carolina taking Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore with the No. 7 overall pick, a move that would add a technically polished defender with the size and football IQ to fit alongside what the Panthers are trying to build on that side of the ball.
It is only an early projection, of course, but it speaks to how the Panthers could keep leaning into defense if the roster trends hold. Moore is the kind of cornerback evaluators tend to pair with a strong existing group, and that is what makes this idea interesting for Carolina - not just whether he would be a fit, but how much scarier the secondary could look if the front office ever decides to spend premium draft capital there. [Read more 🡒]
Darren Waller Is Giving Panthers Fans A Reason To Dream Again
Darren Waller has spent this offseason taking a different approach to his conditioning, and it has given the Panthers something worth watching as camp unfolds. After a stretch in which his availability and effectiveness have been the real questions, the tight end has come into Carolina with a focus that has shown up both physically and mentally, according to coach Dave Canales.
Canales praised what he has seen from Waller during camp, and for a team looking for any reason to feel better about its passing game, that matters. The Panthers are still piecing together plenty of the offense around him, but Wallers work has at least added a layer of intrigue to a roster that has spent too long searching for steady playmakers. [Read more 🡒]