Panthers PFF grades: Jalen Coker on top, Christian Rozeboom hits bottom

The Carolina Panthers lost on Sunday, which was a disappointingly expected result. But even those sorts of games help inform decisions for the future, and one of the best ways to explore a game is with PFF grades. They help paint a picture beyond the box score, and here's what Carolina's painting looks like.

Offense led by Jalen Coker, Bryce Young

Notable offensive grades:

Jalen Coker: 84.3
Bryce Young: 78.4
Damien Lewis: 72.1
Taylor Moton: 64.3
Xavier Legette: 64.1
Chuba Hubbard: 62.4
Rico Dowdle: 60.0
Cade Mays: 59.8
Tetairoa McMillan: 58.7
Austin Corbett: 56.0
Ikem Ekwonu: 52.3

The Panthers were led by Bryce Young and Jalen Coker. Damien Lewis was good, too, but everyone else fell well short of those three. That pretty much tracks with the box score.

Young was quietly very good, so it's nice to see the PFF grades reward him for that despite the lackluster box score. Coker was the clear best player on offense, though. He made two brilliant catches.

The running backs were not very good, and the grades reflect that. It's a little surprising that Chuba Hubbard edged Rico Dowdle just a bit, but neither were deserving of much more anyway.

Tetairoa McMillan's run of poor play continued. He caught just two passes, and he dropped what could've been a touchdown. He also just seemingly never got open. Either that, or the game plan was to target him four times, which is its own problem.

The offensive line, save for Lewis, was not very good. They couldn't run block whatsoever, and if not for Young's exceptional mobility and scrambling, they'd have allowed quite a few sacks.

Defense gets surprisingly good DB grades

Dec 14, 2025; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Carolina Panthers cornerback Mike Jackson (2) tackles New Orleans Saints wide receiver Devaughn Vele (14) during the second quarter at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

Notable defensive grades:

Mike Jackson: 72.3
Jaycee Horn: 67.7
Nick Scott: 67.3
Chau Smith-Wade: 64.8
Nic Scourton: 62.5
Bobby Brown III: 62.4
Lathan Ransom: 56.7
Derrick Brown: 54.4
Tre'von Moehrig: 52.8
Christian Rozeboom: 26.8

It is shocking that the defensive backs were graded so decently. They seemed to struggle in coverage all day, except maybe Mike Jackson, who deservedly gets top marks (excluding Trevis Gipson, who was used sparingly).

Jaycee Horn's grade seems far too positive. He didn't make many big plays, and he got beat one-on-one for the game-tying touchdown. He struggled, but apparently his run defense and tackling were good enough to offset it.

Chau Smith-Wade lined up offside twice on field-goal attempts, including the game-winner. It's surprising that he got a remotely positive grade.

Bobby Brown's grade seems too low. He was all over the line of scrimmage on Sunday, helping shut down the running game of New Orleans.

Derrick Brown and Lathan Ransom deserve their grades. Both of them committed awful penalties by hitting Tyler Shough late. In Ransom's case, it literally cost the Panthers the game because it put them in field-goal range with less than 10 seconds.

Christian Rozeboom should not be a Panther next year. He is far too often down here, and Sunday's game was pretty awful, so this is very deserving.

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