REPORT: Panthers to Host Raiders to Open 2020 Season

NFL commissioner Roger Goddell gave teams permission to release their schedules at 7:30 EST. However, many schedule details have been leaked prior to the official schedule release time. Luckily for Panthers fans, Christmas came a little early. According to multiple reports, the Las Vegas Raiders will be Carolina's first opponent for the 2020 regular season.

While Panthers are opening against Raiders, I’m told NFC vs AFC matchups (exclusively) the first four weeks of the season is not the case.
That may already be out there.
— Joe Person (@josephperson) May 7, 2020

This is an interesting matchup to kick off the season. It will be the first game under head coach Matt Rhule's "rebuild." The two teams are seemingly evenly matched. The Raiders were 7-9 in the 2019 season while the Panthers were 5-11. Head coach John Gruden is seemingly experiencing a rebuild of his own over in Las Vegas. The Raiders have not been able to celebrate much success over the past few seasons, similarly to the Panthers.

Carolina and Las Vegas will be looking forward to chasing their respective divisional crowns, and week one will be the perfect opportunity to showcase where both franchises stand in their rebuilds. It's also important to note that linebacker Tahir Whitehead will have an opportunity to play against his former team. The linebacker position has been one of the biggest areas of need for the Panthers defense, so a revenge game for Whitehead would be the ideal opportunity for Whitehead to ease that concern.

What do you think, Panthers fans? Are you excited about this matchup? Let us know in the comments below!

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