Carolina Panthers Rightfully Get Respect in Analyst's Power Rankings Takeaway

The NFL season is over, but 2025 is still fresh on everyone’s mind, as the final power rankings are being released left and right. They all have some things in common: Seattle at No. 1, the Rams in the top three, as they should.

For the Carolina Panthers, there's one power ranking that differs from most, giving the Panthers the respect they deserve after making the NFL Playoffs and winning the NFC South, no matter how bad the division was.

The Athletic’s Josh Kendall and Chad Graff released their power rankings post-Super Bowl 60 on Tuesday, February 10th, and offered a refreshing take on the Carolina Panthers and where they stand in the league.

The Panthers landed at No. 13 in The Athletic’s latest power rankings, ranking only behind other playoff teams, such as the LA Chargers, who are at No. 12, and the Green Bay Packers, who are at No. 11.

Their takeaway for the Panthers was “Maybe they aren’t frauds,” acknowledging that while the Panthers made the playoffs with a losing record, Carolina gave the Rams just as hard a game as Chicago or anyone else has all season, not to mention beating them in the regular season.

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The ranking clearly respects which teams made the playoffs and how far they went, with the Wild Card round exits all slotted next to each other from No. 9 to No. 14.

The only playoff team ranked behind Carolina is the Steelers, who had one of the worst offensive performances of the season and postseason history in their home Wild Card loss to the Houston Texans

Where respect for Carolina comes into these rankings is in the non-playoff teams ranked behind the Panthers, such as Detroit, which has been great in recent seasons but dropped off this year.

The Baltimore Ravens are another team where Kendall and Graff could have simply said, “Oh, they have Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, but just had a bad season—still better than the Panthers.”

This power ranking isn’t saying who would beat who head-to-head, but who earned the right to play in the postseason, valuing that over roster talent or other hypotheticals.

Heading into 2025, most Panthers fans wouldn’t have expected to see Carolina at No. 13 next to other playoff teams, but now the Panthers have an opportunity to make an even greater leap and take advantage of a wide-open NFC South.

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