The Carolina Panthers have finished the last two seasons with a 5-11 record. On paper, they look like the weakest of the four teams in the NFC South and they might be just out of range to land a potential franchise-changing quarterback in this year’s draft.
Despite some sharp bargain-shopping moves in free agency, there’s no a whole lot of reason for fans to feel confident about a quick turnaround in 2021. As the NFL community turns its attention to the draft, Carolina is considered among the worst teams in the league. Nate Davis at USA TODAY has them ranked No. 27.
“Starting to seem as if circumstances could render Carolina the squad left without a seat as the game of NFL QB musical chairs continues. Barring a bold move, they might be in no man’s land on draft night.”
The hard truth is that no one player is going to turn this team around and make them a contender all on his own. Even if they make a deal for their dream quarterback or hit the jackpot with a first-round prospect, he’ll be leading a relatively young and imbalanced roster.
Carolina will need to find their new QB1 (or perhaps Teddy Bridgewater) a real answer at left tackle and add some more firepower to help make up for the loss of wide receiver/running back Curtis Samuel. On defense, the Panther also have glaring deficiencies at defensive tackle, cornerback, slot and free safety.
Until they check at least a few more of those boxes, it’s tough to argue that they should be much higher than 27.
