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Link to article Top 10 storylines according to Joe Person: 10. Who will emerge as the returners? Raheem Blackshear, Trevor Etienne, and Jimmy Horn Jr all competing put Blackshear's roster spot in jeopardy. 9. Will Dan Morgan look outside for secondary help? Some vets are still out there (ie: Justin Simmons), but Person thinks the like the makeup of the current secondary group and as a result they might not bring in reinforcements. An injury or bad showing could change that. 8. What's the situation at tight end? This was posted before Mabry was signed, but Person did mention Noah Fant as a possibility. Sanders' 33 receptions as a rookie last year were the most by a Panthers tight end since Greg Olsen's 52 catches in his final season with the Panthers. Sanders was on pace for a 44-catch rookie season before flipping onto his head vs. KC. He has since lost 10 pounds since last season and looked faster in OTAs. 7. Will an Ikem Ekwonu extension get done before the season? Person thinks that a logical starting point for negotiations would be AAV of $21M which would put Icky in the top-7, highest-paid players at his position. 6. Who wins the kicking competition? Rookie Ryan Fitzgerald appears to have an edge over Matthew Wright, who kicked in one game for the Panthers in 2023. Fitzgerald has a much stronger leg than Pineiro, nailing a 59-yard FG vs. GT for the second-longest kick in FSU history. 5. Will there be enough pass rush? Panthers were tied for third fewest sacks in the league last season with 32. A'Shawn Robinson and Jadeveon Clowney both had 5.5 sacks each, the lowest total for the team leader since Na'il Diggs and Damione Lewis finished with 3.5 each in 2007 (those are two names I haven't heard in a looong time). OLB coach Tem Lukabu was replaced with AC Carter and Clowney was released. Welcome Pat Jones II, Nic Scourton, and Princely Umanmielen. Amare Barno was a possibility for starting camp on PUP. 4. About the defense: Is it going to be better? Hard to be much worse. Got gashed in the run game, and that's what Morgan tasked himself with fixing this offseason. Added free-agent pieces to all three levels of the defense as well as took talent in the draft (Scourton, Umanmielen, Lathan Ransom, and Cam Jackson). But the key could be the return of Derrick Brown. 3. Is Tetairoa McMillan the missing piece for Bryce Young and the offense? The offense lacked a big-time playmaker in the passing game, which they had hoped XL would fill. TMac will allow XL to settle in while also providing an impressive catch radius for Young to throw at. 2. Is Brown ready to return to fill a huge void on the defense? The defense started coming apart at the seams after DB tore his meniscus in Week 1, and then came completely undone after losing Shaq Thompson three weeks later to an Achilles injury. After losing two of their best players and leaders on defense last season, Shaq is now off to the Panthers Retirement Center in Buffalo under Sean McDermott's care and Derrick Brown is being cautiously worked back into the fold (got to think that they're a little gunshy after Jonathon Brooks last season). 1. Is Young poised to take the next step and put the Panthers in contention for a playoff spot? Bryce's turn around after benching was so encouraging that the team decided to use their top-10 pick on a receiver rather than a defensive piece for Evero. Canales declared that the Panthers had "our guy" after the 5-TD, OT win against the Falcons and now needs Young to play well from the jump this year if the Panthers hope to end the league's second-longest active playoff drought.

4 year contract. So 2028.

I mean, I have said it before. I actually like Dave. I think he brings a lot of the stuff you want in a HC. I don't like him paired with Morgan because I think Morgan could get an axe quick. Think Tepper likes to set things up to have folks to be fired and take blame. Then the next GM is going to be looking out for himself more than Dave. and I think Dave now is sort of stuck w/ Bryce after the unimaginable Bryce rally. I think the plan was basically that we would move on from Bryce pending something insane didn't happen. They did. Then the insane still happened.

Not until he is done being paid. No idea when that is.

CJ Stroud is 23 years old and already has 2 more career playoff wins than our legendary backup. It really isn't that up in the air.

Good perspective. And it's hard to know what really was the case with CJ vs. Bryce. I do think Reich's system had basically past its expiration date and we should've obviously recognized that in our search. Coming off Rhule, we all recognized Tepper wanted NFL experience at the helm. The issue we looked past was that what seemed like a fun assembly of coaches from a bunch of different systems was not the way to approach it. Thomas Brown was thrown in too soon as OC, way over his head. Just so many factors at play. I think it really created chaos and made it a difficult offense to implement. No cohesive vision/just competing philosophies and coaching. Then come the start of last season. you're right that Bryce was still super off. Something had to get shaken out of him. I would love to see what thing were like behind the scenes during Dalton's starting period that allowed Bryce to really change his game. He still had messy pocket tendencies but the field vision/timing/awareness definitely shifted wayyy for the better once he was back. That final 6-7 games were a good indicator, so we'll see how things look to start this one.

Or he hires someone worth keeping. This round was leftovers and not even on the radar for other teams.

well, I'm not in meetings. Nor employed to make decisions. but the narrative of trust the professionals.....has not been the best defense of actions in Carolina land for some time. The biggest issue I think is time and Tepper. Can a grouping stay in power long enough to actually build a cohesive vision.

Names for guys we can't sign anymore? Great comeback from a guy adding nothing but sniffing my ass on a legitimate take and has a board name of a massive joke in the NFL.

Is it factual that Frank and other coaches wanted CJ and was overruled by Tepper? Rumor mill until Frank or Tepper says otherwise for me. And even if he did, it’s still really up in the air who the better QB will be.

Looking at the ILBs still available on the market, Eric Kendricks from Dallas is the best but I don't know his health situation.

Nothing earth shattering in this top 10 but something to read as camp has started brown and young are at snippets bottom …it is also before Josey was let go 10. Who will emerge as the returners? Raheem Blackshear has handled kick returns every year since joining the Panthers in 2022, and last year was the primary kick and punt returner. But the additions of fourth-round running back Trevor Etienne and sixth-round receiver Jimmy Horn pushed Blackshear down the depth chart and likely put his chances of making the roster in jeopardy. Etienne, the younger brother of Jaguars running back Travis Etienne, averaged nearly 25 yards in two seasons as Florida’s kick returner (before transferring to Georgia). Horn has game-changing speed and return experience from his two years at Colorado. 9. Will Dan Morgan look outside for secondary help? Speculation that the Panthers could add a veteran defensive back has persisted since they hosted free-agent safeties Julian Blackmon and Marcus Williams on visits in March. Justin Simmons, a safety who was with Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero in Denver, is also available. But I sense that Morgan, Evero and Dave Canales like the makeup of the current secondary group and aren’t planning to bring in reinforcements. Obviously, that could change due to injury or a bad showing during joint practices against the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans. But the Panthers made big investments in Jaycee Horn and Tre’von Moehrig and want to see which younger defensive backs step up around them. 8. What’s the situation at tight end? Depending on Tommy Tremble’s status, the Panthers could be in the market for a tight end to pair with Ja’Tavion Sanders and rookie Mitchell Evans. Tremble had back surgery in May, two months after re-signing on a two-year, $10.5 million deal. It’s tough to envision him being ready for the start of camp. One name to monitor is Noah Fant, who was released Sunday by Seattle. The 27-year-old Fant was with Canales and Panthers TE coach Pat McPherson in Seattle. Sanders’ 33 receptions as a rookie last year were the most by a Panthers tight end since Greg Olsen pulled in 52 passes in 2019 during his final season in Charlotte. Sanders was on pace for a 44-catch season before being flipped on his head against Kansas City in Week 12. The fourth-rounder from Texas lost 10 pounds during the offseason and looked faster during OTAs. 7. Will an Ikem Ekwonu extension get done before the season? Since Morgan was promoted and Canales and vice president of football operations Brandt Tilis arrived in January 2024, the Panthers have made a point to lock up their deserving, homegrown players. The list features Derrick Brown, Chuba Hubbard and Horn, and may soon include Ekwonu, the first-round pick from 2022 who has said he wants to be here for the team’s turnaround. The two sides failed to get a deal done during the offseason, but Morgan has expressed a desire to keep the Charlotte native in process blue for the long term. Last spring, Canales called Ekwonu “a dominant run blocker” who needed to clean up his hand placement and footwork to improve as a pass blocker. The Panthers picked up Ekwonu’s fifth-year option (worth $17.6 million) for 2026. An extension with an average annual value of $21 million would put the former N.C. State mauler among the top seven, highest-paid players at his position. That seems like a logical starting point. 6. Who wins the kicking competition? The Panthers will have a new kicker after moving on from Eddy Pineiro, who’s third all-time among NFL kickers in field goal accuracy but never had the strongest leg. That doesn’t seem to be an issue for undrafted free-agent Ryan Fitzgerald, whose 59-yarder last August against Georgia Tech was the second-longest kick in Florida State history. After struggling during a rainy and windy OTA practice, Fitzgerald was 9-of-10 on skinny goal posts over the Panthers’ next two practices with reporters present. He would appear to have the edge over journeyman Matthew Wright, who’s bounced around to six teams over five years (including a one-game stint with Carolina at the end of 2023). 5. Will there be enough pass rush? The Panthers’ 32 sacks in 2024 tied for the third fewest in the league. A’Shawn Robinson and Jadeveon Clowney paced the Panthers with 5 1/2 sacks apiece, the lowest total for the team leader since Na’il Diggs and Damione Lewis finished with 3 1/2 in 2007. Those anemic ’24 numbers prompted the Panthers to replace outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu with A.C. Carter and move on from Clowney in favor of a youth movement at edge. After signing Pat Jones following a seven-sack season in Minnesota, the Panthers took two SEC edge rushers on the second night of the draft — Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen. The Panthers need consistent pressure from Robinson and D.J. Wonnum, who had four sacks in eight games last year. Amare Barno, another returning edge rusher, likely will start camp on the physically unable to perform list following a knee cleanup. 4. About the defense: Is it going to be better? It would be hard to be much worse. A big reason for the paltry pass rush was the fact that the Panthers were repeatedly gashed in the run game, leading to few third-and-long situations in which the pass rushers could eat. Morgan tried to attack the problems in free agency. A year after rebuilding the offensive line, the former Panthers linebacker-turned-GM missed out on his biggest target (Milton Williams) but added free-agent pieces to all three levels of the defense. In addition to the edge rushers, the Panthers also took Ohio State safety Lathan Ransom and Florida defensive lineman Cam Jackson on the third day of the draft. But the key to the Evero-coordinated D could be the health of Derrick Brown, whom we’ll address momentarily. 3. Is Tetairoa McMillan the missing piece for Bryce Young and the offense? The Panthers brought back their entire offensive line, which did a nice job protecting Young and opening holes for Hubbard last fall. Rico Dowdle should provide a nice change of pace in the run game. But Canales’ offense last year lacked a big-time playmaker in the passing game, which the Panthers hoped they were getting in Legette. In fact, McMillan’s arrival should allow Legette to relax and settle in after a rookie season plagued by dropped passes. And McMillan’s size, catch radius and familiarity with Young should be a boon for the third-year quarterback, who threw with McMillan during the offseason and lobbied for him with the Panthers’ decision-maker 2. Is Brown ready to return to fill a huge void on the defense? The defense’s undoing started early last year when Brown tore his meniscus in Week 1 and was lost for the season. When Shaq Thompson went down with an Achilles injury three weeks later, the Panthers were without two of their best players and leaders on defense. Thompson is gone — the latest ex-Panther to join Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane in Buffalo. And while Brown’s rehab has gone well, expect the Panthers to bring him along slowly in training camp so he’s ready for the start of the season. That’s a sound strategy given Brown’s importance to the defense. The 2020 first-round pick from Auburn had a monster season in 2023, finishing with more tackles (103) than any defensive lineman in NFL history and going to his first Pro Bowl. 1. Is Young poised to take the next step and put the Panthers in contention for a playoff spot? Young looked like a completely different quarterback at the end of last season than the one whose inconsistency and lack of confidence led to his benching after only two games. This version more closely resembled “Bama Bryce” and was encouraging enough that the Panthers decided to use a top-10 pick on a receiver rather than give Evero some help on defense.

No one here is going to argue with the fact that Reich was not up to the task and ultimately beyond his expiration date in the NFL. And yes many of the things Colts fans said comically came to fruition here. At the same time. We also don't need to go around doing the Tepper's bidding by blaming it solely on him. Because there is also the reality that even after we fired Reich the offense worsened. And even after purging his staff firing our GM and hiring a new coach the Panthers started out last season with two of the ugliest games in franchise history. Let's process the entire picture here but also recognize Reich was a convenient scapegoat as well.

I mean, Dan went out and spent more than every team in the NFL on our OL. Not sure that signature move is a sign of good roster building/management. Any GM can largely problem solve an area by going that route. And the OL is really the only position where we have actual answers. I don't equate what we have done w/ the DL being on par w/ the OL. I also don't think it's total fair to completely wipe Dan Morgan's existence from the vision and plans where he was asst GM. I'm still largely of the belief.....Fitterer just took the fall for what largely was a brainstrust that hasn't changed that much.

As soon as Frank signed the papers he had the $36M guaranteed. He didn't have to avoid getting fired to get it and seemingly made no effort to avoid getting fired. Truth be told he probably felt a good deal of relief that day and probably enjoyed a nice meal with his family that night discussing plans for retirement life away from football.

Footage of Josey full throttle chasing Bijon across the middle

Y’all just be talking. Frank had 36 million reasons not to do this, he was just awful at his job. He was exactly the same coach the Colts warned us about.

"Since Dan took over" is very recently. I'm talking a lot longer term than that. We honestly haven't seen enough yet to know if Dan's approach is going to work or not.

Not paying $30 a month for that.

It is really bizarre. I’m guessing it’s true that Tepper overruled and picked Bryce as his guy. Crazy what confidence and a change of scheme can do though. Bryce looked like a poor imitation of Taylor Heineke out there. With Canales he’s a different dude. Im still of the opinion that Steve Wilks earned that HC job and the quickest way to getting the team back on track was to keep that power offense with Foreman, draft Stroud, then sign Cam for one more go.

I expect to see a better team on the field this year.. pushing for 2nd place in the NFCS. We are not at the point to make a run against the Eagles or Detroit or even the Bucks at this point. I just want to see a team that is playing in meaningly games in December this year. More than that, I want to get a definitive answer on BY this year. Next year has to be the year to push.

All one has to do is look around the NFL and look at the teams without cemented elite QB's and see that they're front offices and coaching staffs are not content with just having a QB pushing 40 and an afterthought UDFA behind their penciled in starter. And no matter how optimistic we are about Bryce Young given how he finished last season the position is anything but cemented by him. If someone out there thinks that the Panthers are ahead of the curve above these other teams some of which have actually been to the playoffs at any point in the last decade that's their prerogative but it's sheer fantasy at this point.

Time will tell who was a bad pick at their spot. Nobody has played a down and football yet. Saying it over and over again doesn't make anybody smart or knowledgeable. Wait till the games are played.

Totally. It's also very relative to their development. I had a preferential eye on Penix, Daniels & Ward over the years and they were talked about as legit prospects dating back to 2022 (but opted to return/transfer/declare when they did respectively). Ward's ceiling is pretty dope - I'll always go back to the Was State/Oregon shootout in 2022 that got me fixed on him. He played ridiculous but also made a late iffy decision under pressure that ultimately became a 44-41 loss to Bo Nix and the Oregon machine. But man, he played super. At that time, I know Spielman and Sando had an insider pod talking about these future prospects and how Ward wasn't viewed super highly (yet) but had all the skill to be a top pick...could've been a 3rd/4th rounder in 2023. He kept developing the next year, could've gone higher in 2024, and then went to Miami and showed VAST pocket improvement, propelling him to the top of the draft. So it goes to show there's too many factors to make those year-to-year comparisons a lot of the time. Ward has always had the skillset, and he stayed in school, and showed his development was absolutely legit, became the top pick with more tape and less projection. Other teams are banking on development once drafted (McCarthy), which I'd honestly be a bit more nervous about than Ward. Although he has Kevin O'Connell along with JJ and Addison, which is about as good of a situation you can ask for haha.

I think that he was referring to Rhule and Fitterer's management. His last sentence suggests that he is hopeful in Dan's management. We'll know the answer by the time 2026 is done though.