Carolina Has One of the NFL's Easiest Schedules in 2024

Can the Panthers take advantage of a light 2024 schedule?

Aug 13, 2022; Landover, Maryland, USA; Carolina Panthers players helmets rest on the bench / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Wednesday evening, the schedule for the 2024 season was released and Carolina will kick things off against divisional foe New Orleans on the road before returning to Charlotte for the home opener against the Los Angeles Chargers.

We've known the opponents for quite some time now, but now that we know the construction of the roster, we can dive into it a little deeper.

According to the combined record of opponents from 2023, the Panthers are tied with the Chicago Bears with the second easiest schedule in the league. Their 2024 opponents went a combined 135-154, equating to a win percentage of .467. Two of Carolina's division rivals - New Orleans and Atlanta - are tied for the league's easiest schedule.

For me, the schedule is very segmented. The first month of the season has challenging spots, but also a couple of winnable games, depending on how you view the Saints and Chargers.

The sweet spot for Carolina begins in Week 5 against Chicago and runs through the bye week. During that stretch, they'll face the Falcons, Commanders, Broncos, Saints, and Giants in addition to Chicago.

The matchup out of the bye week against the Kansas City Chiefs begins a brutal four-game stretch that also features games against Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, and Dallas - all teams expecting to contend for the playoffs. And then to round things out, the Panthers will play a pair of divisional road games against Tampa and Atlanta.

For Carolina to insert themselves into the conversation for making the postseason (I know, big stretch here) they have to take full advantage of that "soft" spot of the schedule from weeks 5-10 and get a couple of games over .500. Being 4-6 or 5-5 at that point isn't the end of the world by any means, but it just digs a deeper hole for them to climb out of with the most difficult part of the schedule looming.

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