3 moves that set the Carolina Panthers up for failure in 2025

The Carolina Panthers are entering a make-or-break portion of their schedule - not just for the 2025 season, either. These last seven games on the slate may determine which direction Bryce Young's career goes as well as how long head coach Dave Canales sticks around.

The Panthers are 5-5, but the cold hard fact is they should be 6-4 after defeating the New Orleans Saitns last week, who came in with the worst record in the league. Instead, they were exposed in a bad way and now it's put up or shut up time.

It didn't have to come to this. If the Panthers had avoided three big offseason mistakes they'd probably be in much better shape right now. Here are three that hurt them the most.

1. Releasing Jadeveon Clowney

Nov 10, 2024; Munich, Germany; Carolina Panthers place kicker Eddy Pineiro (4) celebrates with linebacker Thomas Incoom (48) and linebacker Jadeveon Clowney (7) after kicking a 36-yard field goal in overtime against the New York Giants during the 2024 NFL Munich Game at Allianz Arena. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

When you're the worst pass rushing team in the NFL it's generally not a great idea to release your best pass rusher. That's what Jadeveon Clowney was last season - and based on how things have gone so far, it likely would have been the same story this year.

Heading into Week 11, the Panthers rank 28th in the league in sacks and their leaders in this department are rookie Nic Scourton and veteran Derrick Brown, who both have three. That's not enough and letting Clowney go for just $8 million in cap savings was an unforced error.

2. Trading Adam Thielen

Yes, the Panthers got a fourt-round pick out of the Minnesota Vikings - and for the oldest wide receiver in the NFL that's not a bad return. However, this trade also devastated Carolina's passing game and set back Bryce Young's development.

Without his most reliable target and best deep-passing weapon, Young's game has regressed and the Panthers' passing game has suffered with it. Carolina ranks 30th in passing yards per game (164.0) and 26th in passing touchdowns.

3. Over-valuing Jaycee Horn & Mike Jackson

Cornerback is the most-difficult position to play in the modern game and one of the most important. Here, the Panthers made a pair of errors by overpaying for both of their 2024 starters.

Jaycee Horn signed a four-year, $100 million deal that was immediately pinged as an overpay. Then, they paid career backup Mike Jackson on a two-year, $10.5 million deal.

Nether has lived up to their respective deals. Horn gave up two toucdowns in coverage last week plus some other big plays, and Jackson has had a target on hs back all year for opposing WR1s. For the season, Jackson is ranked 58th at his position by PFF and Horn is all the way down at 116.

The Panthers should have made signing another proven veteran at this spot a priority, or used one of their draft picks on a promising prospect - because now they have one of the league's worst boundary cornerback tandems.

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