The Carolina Panthers won the NFC South Division last season.
Despite that, they’ve still got plenty of doubters heading into the 2026 NFL campaign, with Week 1 having arrived.
On the one hand, you can’t necessarily blame people who don’t totally believe. It’s not like the Panthers ran away with the division last season. They were NFC South champs with an 8-9 record.
Yes, it was an achievement given how they played late in games just to give themselves a chance.
But there are still reasons to not be assured about Bryce Young’s future as a franchise quarterback, and the Panthers haven’t answered every question about their roster heading into the new year.
ESPN, for one, isn’t a believer. In a new preview package put out before the season in which ESPN breaks down each team in the league, they rank the Panthers 26th out of the NFL’s 32 teams.
Within that assessment, they look at what the Panthers will need to go right to avoid taking a step backward in 2026.
Panthers’ Playoff Chances From ESPN Are Rough
ESPN ranks the Panthers as the worst team in the NFC South in its team rankings, which sums up the doubt that exists there about their chances for this season.
They then go on to give the Panthers a 17.3% chance to make the playoffs, suggesting that in less than one-in-five versions of this season, Carolina will play beyond Week 18.
Most of that playoff chance comes from the NFC South. ESPN projects the Panthers with a 13.9% chance to win the division.
Part of the problem is that, as a division champion, the Panthers have a tougher schedule this season than they would’ve otherwise. Their schedule is ranked as the 13th-hardest in the NFL.
ESPN projects that schedule to turn into an average of 6.7 wins, meaning the Panthers would be looking at a 6-11 or 7-10 record. That wouldn’t be good enough to make the playoffs.
It appears Carolina is simply going to have to outperform expectations to have a chance at the postseason.
Bryce Young Holds The Keys
As with most NFL teams, the quarterback position is going to decide things this season.
Yes, ESPN lists the Panthers’ biggest strength as its cornerbacks, and the biggest concern as “depth in the trenches,” and yes, those things matter.
But if Young plays well, it’ll mean good things, and if he doesn’t, it could get tough.
“In 2025, Bryce Young recorded career marks in completion percentage (64%), passing TDs (23), off-target percentage (16%) and yards per dropback (5.7) en route to Carolina’s first playoff appearance since 2017 — snapping the longest playoff drought in franchise history,” ESPN wrote in its preview.
The Panthers need Young to play like that guy again, or even better. That’s their best path toward proving the doubters wrong and making the playoffs.
Panthers Given Unfortunate Prediction By ESPN