ESPN - Best NFL Starting Lineups

[Icege]

The LB and DB rooms have a lot of question marks going into this season... I won't be surprised if the defense is better but not completely turned around.

At the same time, this has been almost a total rebuild between this season and last... a group or two had to be the weak spots while other areas get shored up first.

Edited July 21, 2025 by Icege

[Basbear]

7 minutes ago, Icege said:

The LB and DB rooms have a lot of question marks going into this season... I won't be surprised if the defense is better but not completely turned around.

At the same time, this has been almost a total rebuild between this season and last... a group or two had to be the weak spots while other areas get shored up first.

The D has no choice but be better. If they are close to this past year, after 6 games fired evero.

 

I knew once Sean Payton let him go, that should have been enough on his worth. I thought he was one of the youngest rising stars in the league and he should have been the HC if Dave was the other option.....Then this past year happened.... I watched each week with NO improvments and nothing on smart game plans...... Just the worst defense in the Panthers history. I do not care if DBrown was a monster and DMVP of this group, make adjustments and figure it out. The best DCs always find ways, evero just put it on cruise and got nothing. He's also had a say in drafts and nearly all the FAs, thus far some school of the blind DC would have the same results.

 

Just a big year and Im completely out of excuses. Plus I have a short hook if they are looking bad, in fact 4 games Im ready. 

[kungfoodude]

5 hours ago, TD alt said:

Well, it seems a little confusing, but I guess not: I guess they're thinking that we're going to the way that our receivers go. Barnwell just ranked us 31 at the (so-called) offensive skill positions. ESPN just doesn't think that much of the Panthers. I wonder if it was the O-line that bumped us up one spot, because they obviously don't think that much of our safety position, or our pass-rush. In any event, there should be ample enough bulletin board material here for the team. 

I mean, I think you will really struggle to find many prognosticators that don't have us in the bottom 5. Part of it is that we do have a bottom 5 overall roster(still true) and part of it is that we have more question marks than most rosters. Finally, we have consistently been a bottom 10 team for close to a decade now. Nothing is really a safer offseason projection that putting us there.

[CRA]

Evero was setup to fail by design last year and then took the DB hit on top of that.   I don’t love Evero but it’a far more on the front office than DC in terms of what happened last year.    

and the Carolina O was 31st in time of possession in addition to all that 

[TD alt]

4 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

I mean, I think you will really struggle to find many prognosticators that don't have us in the bottom 5. Part of it is that we do have a bottom 5 overall roster(still true) and part of it is that we have more question marks than most rosters. Finally, we have consistently been a bottom 10 team for close to a decade now. Nothing is really a safer offseason projection that putting us there.

Don't get me wrong. Bottom five is fine before 2025. If we're still bottom five after 2025, then we'll have a problem. It's possible, and, as you say, some would say probable. It all depends on the question marks. There's plenty enough NFL precedent however to give us hope, as there are surprises every year, and preseason rankings are never right. 

[kungfoodude]

11 hours ago, TD alt said:

Don't get me wrong. Bottom five is fine before 2025. If we're still bottom five after 2025, then we'll have a problem. It's possible, and, as you say, some would say probable. It all depends on the question marks. There's plenty enough NFL precedent however to give us hope, as there are surprises every year, and preseason rankings are never right. 

I generally anticipate a bottom 10 and perhaps bottom 5 team. I am thinking that a chunk of that can be tempered by the realization of how incredibly bad the overall roster is. If we hit a couple of FA signings and a couple of draft picks, it's a step in the right direction. At this point, that's my personal bar. Just make the overall roster progress be forward rather than backward. 

It's at least a starting point that someone will eventually be able to do something with. We definitely can't stay in this perpetual backslide.