24 NFL offenses ranked ahead of Carolina Panthers' going into 2025 season

Bleacher Report still sees the Panthers on the bottom end of the league in terms of offensive potential.

Jan 5, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) celebrates with tight end Tommy Tremble (82) after a touchdown pass against the Atlanta Falcons in the third quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Carolina Panthers ended the 2024 season on a strong note - at least on one side of the ball. While their defense was finishing up the worst year any NFL defense has ever had, their passing offense was showing real signs of life for the first time in the post-Cam Newton era.

Their late-season progress was admittedly a top-heavy dynamic, as much of the production the Panthers offense saw down the stretch came from Bryce Young airing out deep balls to Adam Thielen. That worked splendidly, but the rest of Carolina's pass catchers were underwhelming - as they were all season - and the run game fell off with the top three backfield options all on injured reserve.

Naturally, most of Carolina's cap space and draft capital was spent on improving that defense this offseason, but general manager Dan Morgan managed to land three upgrades to an offensive skill group that was one of the league's worst: he scored one each at running back (Rico Dowdle), wide receiver (Tetairoa McMillan) and tight end (Mitchell Evans).

Despite those three promising additions, some analysts still see this as a bottom-end unit. According to a new ranking of all 32 offenses around the NFL by Brent Sobleski, Carolina's offense ranks just 25th going into the 2025 season.

B/R on ranking Panthers offense 25th

"To be fair, the Panthers did lean heavily on the run game, specifically Chuba Hubbard, upon Young's reinsertion to the lineup. However, the quarterback showed enough to provide hope again. So much so, Carolina continued to build around Young this offseason... Obviously, McMillan needs to be a consistent presence as a No. 1 target for this to work. Also, Young must showed continued improvement. If those two things happen, the Panthers can be a dangerous opponent."

Dec 8, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales during the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The blurb certainly doesn't sound like they're talking about a team ranked 25th, but at least it's an admission that this group should be trending up.

The real strength of this group is in the trenches, where a potent offensive line will be returning all of its starters and key backups from last season. If that unit can continue to grow together (as continuity tends to do) it should give Young all the time he needs to take advantage of Carolina's new weapons.

Until this new-look unit proves itself for a few weeks it's probably fair to rank them this low, but we feel the Panthers offense could be about average (ranking somewhere between 18th and 14th) by the time the 2025 season ends - if everything goes according to plan.

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