Despite 'huge potential' Carolina Panthers land low in ESPN's watchability rankings

There's a good reason why the Carolina Panthers did not have a single prime-time game on their schedule last season - and why there's only one this year. Since the middle of the 2018 season when Cam Newton's injuries started taking a serious toll on his ceiling, this has been the worst team in the NFC, hands down.

However, things appeared to finally be turning around at the tail-end of the 2024 campaign. Bryce Young finished the season on a hot streak, and the Panthers front office followed that up with a strong offseason, improving their roster where it needed it the most.

Then again, there's a long, long, long list of bad NFL teams who seemed to be much better on paper, only to collapse face-first when the games began. It seems ESPN is expecting the Panthers to be one of them. Despite some "huge potential," they have Carolina placed 26th in their watchability rankings.

ESPN on Panthers' watchability

"The Panthers are another huge team with potential here. The Bryce Young resurgance last season was awesome, but nobody was really watching it until the last few weeks... The Panthers may break as "watchable but still bad" if the defensive makeover doesn't take. Five new starters were acquired via free agency and the draft for that side of the ball, and they added a couple of depth guys to boot. If they coalesce quickly, the Panthers may break as "watchable and actually decent."

Tre'Von Moehrig — Sep 22, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders safety Tre'von Moehrig (7) has words with Carolina Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble (82) and Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Darnay Holmes (30) during the fourth quarter at Allegiant Stadium. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

The Panthers spent a ton in free agency to upgrade their defense, but heading into the season we can only really reliably depend on one unit being significantly better than last season. That would be the interior defensive line, where a healthy Derrick Brown will go a long way towards erasing 2024's failures, and new additions like Turk Wharton and Bobby Brown II should guarantee it.

Unfortunately, nowhere else on the defensive side of the ball can we say that with any real confidence. The edge rotation might have been much improved if not for the release of Jadeveon Clowney - and their interest in trading for Trey Hendrickson shows that was probably a mistake.

At linebacker a massive hole opened up with the loss of Josey Jewell, who was their best defender down the stretch last season. The cornerback group is the same, but they still need a proven free safety to pair with Tre'Von Moehrig on the back end, or that group could once again be a liability.

Offensively, the Panthers seem to have massively upgraded their wide receiver corps with Tetairoa McMillan and Jimmy Horn Jr. in the draft and Hunter Renfrow in free agency. Their backfield depth should also be much improved with Rico Dowdle taking the place of Miles Sanders.

Otherwise, it's largely the same group as last season - their offensive line remains good but not great, and their tight end room is still one of the worst in the league. All depends on Bryce Young taking the next step forward in his development - and Dave Canales upping his game as a playcaller. Without improvements in those two critical areas, the offense is likely only to improve marginally.

All together, you can see why ESPN is skeptical about this Panthers team truly being any better than they were last year. The only way to get respect is to start winning games that the media expects them to lose.

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