Low-ranked NFC South ripe for Panthers’ picking going into 2025 NFL season

It’s a division that has sent only one team (and the same team) to the playoffs the past four seasons. Could the Panthers rise up and win the NFC South in 2025?

Dec 22, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales with quarterback Bryce Young (9) in the fourth quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports recently ranked the eight NFL divisions from best to worst entering 2025. It’s hardly a shock that the NFC East owns the top spot considering it houses the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and the team they beat in the 2024 conference title game, the Washington Commanders.

As for the rest of the league, the woeful AFC South is at the bottom of his rankings, and just above that group is the foursome of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, and New Orleans Saints. “There isn’t much to say about the NFC South,” explained Kerr, “a division where only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers seem to have things figured out. Tampa Bay has ruled this bad division for four consecutive years, but was the first team in the division to win 10 games in a season since 2021.”

Dec 3, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) greats Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) after a game at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Buccaneers actually own the NFC’s longest active postseason streak at five consecutive years. As for the rest of the division? “The Atlanta Falcons are moving on with Michael Penix Jr. after the Kirk Cousins experiment failed and the New Orleans Saints are heading toward a full rebuild (which should have started years ago). How those teams fare will be interesting. The Carolina Panthers improved last season with the development of Bryce Young, but have they improved one of the worst defenses from last year to compete in 2025?”

“Can the NFC South improve in 2025?” asked Kerr. “The division prospects don’t seem too optimistic.”

Does that mean that Dave Canales’s club has a shot at stealing the top spot from the Bucs this upcoming season? Bryce Young and company won four of its final nine games in 2024, and general manager Dan Morgan added a lot of talent this offseason on both sides of the ball. The Panthers and Buccaneers meet twice in the final three weeks of the season. Carolina looks to capture the NFC South for the first time since its Super Bowl season of 2015.

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