Panthers insider says it will take more than 1 year to fix all-time awful defense

We feel the goal for the Carolina Panthers this coming season should be to win nine games. That's more than they have won since 2017 and is more optimistic than most. Our rosey appraisal assumes two key developments. First, Bryce Young has to pick up where he left off last year and continue growing. Second, Carolina's defense has to take a dramatic step forward after allowing more points and more yards than any team in NFL history last season.

While the Panthers front office did take steps to help in both departments this offseason, there's no guarantee that either one will happen. If one of those critical elements doesn't work out for them, then the best they can hope for is six or seven wins at most.

That scenario roughly matches the Athletic's projections for Carolina in 2025, which is 6.5 wins. Beat writer Joe Person says that sounds about right - and he expects it'll take more than one offseason to fix this historically awful defense.

The Athletic projects 6.5 wins for Panthers

"The addition of Tetairoa McMillan will help open the field for Xavier Legette, while Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle should be one of the better RB tandems in the league. GM Dan Morgan spent most of the offseason resources on the defense. Plus, the Panthers get Pro Bowl DL Derrick Brown back. But it will take more than one year to fix the league’s worst defense."

Preseason is only preseason, but what we saw from Carolina's 0-3 run this month was bad enough to give us at least some concern about our expectations of a big improvement this season.

Bryce Young didn't play enough snaps to make any kind of intelligent judgement on where he's at in his development, but we did see more than enough from Carolina's defense to agree with Person's assessment.

On paper, the Panthers have upgraded their interior defensive line in a big way - and not just because Derrick Brown is returning. Unfortunately, no other position group is guaranteed to improve significantly - with the possible exception of an already-respectale cornerback room if they can find room for undrafted rookie standout Corey Thornton.

The edge rotation looks awfully thin without Jadeveon Clowney at the top, which is probably why they're in the mix to trade for Trey Hendrickson. Without Josey Jewell their inside linebacker group might be the weakest in the league and their safety room is at best top-heavy with Tre'Von Moehrig but no other proven options.

Until one or two of those dynamics turns around, it's difficult to say that this defense can do any better than 25th in the league. That would still be a huge improvement over last year - but probably wouldn't be enough to get the Panthers over .500.

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