ESPN Ranks Carolina Panthers as Having Top-10 2023 Offseason in the NFL

Carolina is in a much better position to compete than they were a year ago.

Scott Fitterer has had a very active offseason - more active than usual. He helped lead the coaching search to replace Matt Rhule, negotiated a trade to land the No. 1 pick, and made several free agent signings to improve the offense and some areas of the defense. 

Because of the moves made, the Panthers had one of the best offseasons in the NFL. Bill Barnwell of ESPN believes so as well, ranking them with the ninth-best offseason in the league.

"Carolina got a quarterback and a coaching staff. Trading up to the No. 1 overall pick didn't come cheap. But an organization that desperately tried to acquire Matthew Stafford and Russell Wilson, drafted Matt Corral and dealt for Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield finally landed its quarterback of the future. Again, I don't want to predict how players will turn out before they've played an NFL snap, but coming out of this offseason with top quarterback Bryce Young was a huge step forward for the Panthers after the half measures of years past.

"I'm more confident in talking about their coaching hires. Everything went haywire for new Carolina head coach Frank Reich in Indianapolis a year ago, but the former Eagles assistant had done excellent work with the Colts up to that point, consistently getting more out of his quarterbacks than other coaches had in the years before or after. New defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero is one of the few people to come out of the 2022 Broncos season smelling like a rose after leading their defense to a 10th-place finish in DVOA."

Barnwell did have some criticism for the Panthers believing that they spent too much money on RB Miles Sanders and even suggested a trade for Austin Ekeler instead. And like many others, he isn't all that thrilled with the wide receiver room. 

But if we're being completely honest, the Panthers had a lot to attend to this offseason and you're not going to check every single box over the course of a few months, especially when you usher in a new defensive scheme that doesn't particularly fit a cluster of players under contract. After swinging and missing on the quarterback spot for a handful of years and having an extremely inexperienced coaching staff during the Rhule era, the Panthers should feel good with what they accomplished since January.

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