The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the middle of their mandatory three-day minicamp, annually the final step in their offseason workout program. While the focus now is on playbook installation and getting all 91 players on the same page so that competition can begin in earnest in training camp, attention soon will turn to the specific challenges the team will face during the 2026 season. As such, with the schedule now laid out, we are taking a closer look at each opponent on the Bucs' schedule, examining what they did last season, which players and coaches have come and gone in the offseason and some as-yet-unanswered questions. Today's focus is on the division-rival Carolina Panthers, who won the NFC South last year and then spent big in free agency this offseason to continue last season's defensive upswing.
2025 Results
For the second straight year under Head Coach Dave Canales, who was hired in January of 2024, the Panthers improved their win total by three games over the previous seasons. In this case, thatwasn't quite enough to get the team over .500, but it was enough to win the Panthers' first NFC South title since 2015. Carolina, Tampa Bay and Atlanta all finished the season 8-9, and the tiebreakers went in the Panthers favor, propelling them to their first postseason appearance since 2017.
It did not initially look like this was going to be a breakout season for the Panthers, as they lost three of their first four games, with all the defeats coming on the road at Jacksonville, Arizonaand New England. The lone win in that span was an impressive one, though, as the Panthers blanked the division-rival Falcons, 30-0, at Bank of America Stadium. Carolina only managed 224 yards of offense but won thanks to a defense that picked off Michael Penix twice, with safety Chau Wade-Smith taking one of them to the house.
After that, Carolina went on a midseason tear fueled by running back Rico Dowdle. In a five-game stretch that included wins over Miami, Dallas, the Jets and Green Bay, Dowdle ran for a total of 652 yards and scored four touchdowns. That incredible run began with a 206-yard effort against Miami that set Bryce Young up to throw the game-winning touchdown pass to tight end Mitchell Evans with two minutes left. For Dowdle, his 183-yard game the next week against Dallas, his former team, was probably even more satisfying, as it helped the Panthers to a 30-27 win that included two touchdowns by rookie wideout Tetairoa McMillan and a walk-off field goal by rookie kicker Ryan Fitzgerald.
The only blemish in this stretch was a 40-9 pounding taken at the hands of the Buffalo Bills in Week 10, with quarterback Bryce Young sitting out due to an ankle injury and Carolina's defense giving up 245 rushing yards. That and the Week Nine three-point win over Green Bay that came before it started a trend in which the Panthers alternated wins and losses for 10 consecutive outings. The game that, in retrospect, was the key to Carolina winning the division came in Week 11, when the Panthers went to Atlanta and came away with a 30-27 overtime victory. Young aggravated his ankle injury in the first quarter and had to leave the game but then returned and threw for a franchise single-game record 448 yards, adding three touchdown passes, including two more to McMillan. That finished off the season sweep of Atlanta, which in the end proved to be the difference in the aforementioned three-way tie for first place.
Carolina's other enormous win in the season's second half came in Week 13, when they prevailed in a back-and-forth affair with the visiting Rams, with Young throwing three touchdown passes and the defense picking off Matthew Stafford twice and forcing him to fumble the ball away on the Rams' final possession.
The Panthers seized control of their playoff fate in Week 16 with a 23-20 home win over the Buccaneers in which Young threw touchdown passes to McMillan and tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders. They relinquished that control by ending the season with losses to Seattle and Tampa Bay, but were saved by the Falcons beating the Saints in Week 18 and flipping the tiebreaker to their favor.
The Panthers thus entered the playoffs as the number-four seed in the NFC, which drew them a return visit from Stafford and the Rams. Carolina almost made it a sweep, taking leads of 24-20 and 31-27 in the fourth quarter before Stafford's third touchdown pass with 38 seconds left gave the visitors a 34-31 win. Wide receiver Jalen Coker was the star for Carolina, catching nine passes for 134 yards and a go-ahead touchdown with less than three minutes to play. The Panthers also suffered another loss in the game as left tackle Ikem Ekwonu suffered a knee injury that has put his 2026 season in doubt.
In his third season, Young had his best showing yet, throwing for 3,011 yards, 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 16 games. McMillan won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors after snaring 70 passes for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns. Carolina's offense still only ranked 27th in both yards and points scored but did enough to allow the Panthers to take six of their eight victories by exactly three points each.
The Panthers' defense showed significant improvement after an offseason spending spree, rising from last in both yards and points allowed in 2024 to 16th and 15th in the league in those categories, respectively, in 2025. A healthy Derrick Brown (he missed all but one game in 2024)helped the run defense shave more than 60 yards per game off its 2024 total, while a healthy Jaycee Horn (a career-high 16 games played in 2025) led the defense with five interceptions.
2026 Arrivals
After surrendering the most points ever in a single season (albeit in 17 games) in 2024, the Panthers started reloading on that side of the ball in free agency during the 2025 offseason. Among the new additions were three players who should remain in the starting lineup in 2026 in safety Tre'von Moehrig and interior linemen Bobby Brown and Tershawn Wharton. The team also found a starter on the edge in the draft in Nic Scourton.
The defensive reload continued this spring, with the Panthers landing two of the most coveted free agents in outside linebacker Jaelen Phillips (formerly of Philadelphia) and off-ball linebacker Devin Lloyd (formerly of Jacksonville). Phillips does have a concerning record of injuries since entering the league as a first-round pick by the Dolphins in 2021, but his 5.0 sacks in 2025 belie a very strong season of rushing the passer. NFL Next Gen Stats credits him with 61quarterback pressures last season, with an excellent pressure rate of 15.6%. Lloyd, another former first-round pick by the Jaguars in 2022, delivered his best season yet in a contract year, picking off five passes in 2025 and earning second-team Associated Press All-Pro honors. Later in March, the Panthers added a depth signing in former Rams outside linebacker Nick Hampton, a fifth-round pick in 2023 who played sparingly during three seasons in Los Angeles.
In the draft, the Panthers added further to their defense with second-round defensive tackle Lee Hunter out of Texas Tech, fourth-round cornerback Will Lee of Texas A&M and fifth-round safety Zakee Wheatley. None of the three are necessarily ticketed for immediate starting roles but Hunter is an excellent run-stopper, Lee boasts good length and explosiveness and Wheatley is a scheme-versatile chess piece to move around the defense.
After the whirlwind first few days of free agency, the Panthers made a later strike at another key position, nabbing former Packers tackle Rasheed Walker on a one-year deal worth up to $10 million. The move was important given the uncertain timeline for Ekwonu and at just one year it lines up well for Ekwonu to regain the season-long job in 2027, though the subsequent selection of Georgia tackle Monroe Freeling in the first round makes the situation a little less clear. Walker will once again be a teammate of running back A.J. Dillon, who played four seasons for the Packers before landing in Philadelphia last year. The Panthers also brought back tight end and special teams contributor Feleipe Franks, who has bounced between Atlanta and Carolina in recent years, returning for a second stint in Charlotte on a one-year deal.
In addition, the Panthers found a new backup for Young, signing a younger option in former first-round pick Kenny Pickett, most recently of the Las Vegas Raiders. He replaces veteran passer Andy Dalton, who was subsequently traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2027 seventh-round draft pick. Will Grier, most recently of the Cowboys, was also added to the quarterback room, as was former Georgia Tech start Haynes King as an undrafted free agent. The team picked up offensive line depth in center Luke Fortner and tackle Stone Forsythe and took a low-budget flier on wide receiver John Metchie. Fortner figures to be first in line to start at the pivot but will get competition from fifth-round pick Sam Hecht, a Kansas State product.
In the draft, the Panthers also picked up a potential big-play receiver in Tennessee's Chris Brazzell, who has an intriguing size-speed combination but an underdeveloped route tree.
2026 Departures
The O-Line additions covered above balanced out the losses of Cade Mays, Yosh Nijman, Brady Christensen, Austin Corbett and Jake Curhan. Mays signed a three-year contract to be a starter in Detroit while Corbett went to Buffalo on a one-year deal. Nijman and Christensen remained unsigned as of the second week of June.
Dowdle, who led the Panthers with 1,076 rushing yards in 2025, moved on to the Steelers on a two-year deal, and defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson landed in Tampa after being released just before the start of free agency. Edge rusher D.J. Wonnum also signed with the Lions and linebacker Christian Rozeboom followed Robinson to Tampa. Robinson, Wonnum and Rozeboom were all full-season starters in 2025; Robinson recorded 65 tackles and 2.5 sacks, Wonnum turned in 3.0 sacks and Rozeboom led the team with 122 tackles.
As noted in the previous section, the Panthers dealt veteran quarterback Andy Dalton to the Eagles after signing Pickett. Dalton started seven games during three seasons with Carolina, with the team only winning one of them. He does have 169 career starts and nearly 40,000 career passing yards.
Pressing Questions
Will Bryce Young continue his ascension and land a long-term extension?
The Panthers traded up to the first pick in the 2024 draft, essentially investing two first-round picks, two second-round picks and wide receiver D.J. Moore in their planned franchise quarterback, Alabama's Bryce Young. After a rough rookie campaign, Young was benched by first-year Head Coach Dave Canales just three games into his second season, and it looked like his future in Carolina might already be in doubt. However, Andy Dalton was injured in a car accident a few weeks later, Young got his job back and he hasn't relinquished it since. His passer rating improved to 82.2 in 2024 and the again to 87.8 last year, and his completion percentage went up each season as well, to 63.6% last year. The Panthers did pick up Young's fifth-year option for 2027 and he is also now available for a contract extension for the first time. While he was clearly a significantly better quarterback in 2025 than in 2023, Young did still just rank 22nd in passer rating, 21st in passing yards and 20th in interception percentage last year. In May, Panthers General Manager Dan Morgan said the Panthers "really feel like the arrow is up with Bryce," and that conversations about a long-term deal were taking place. The franchise obviously sees a bright future with Young, but how he can he ascend among the ranks of NFL quarterbacks? Will he take another big step forward in 2026? That could be the key to the Panthers defending their division title.
Will the additions of Devin Lloyd and Jaelen Phillips transform the defense into a top-10 unit?
As noted earlier, the Panthers' defense improved from the league's worst unit in 2024 to solidly in the middle of the pack last year, making that division title possible. While there were improvements across the board, Carolina still only ranked 27th in sack percentage at 5.92% in 2025. The signing of Phillips, one of the most coveted edge rushers on the free agent market, was aimed at changing that. The simultaneous signing of Lloyd was meant to address a linebacker position that has lost some long-time stalwarts in recent seasons and needed a playmaker for the middle of the field. The additions of Moehrig, Bobby Brown, Wharton and Scourton worked out last year, and with Derrick Brown and Horn among the best in the NFL at their positions, the Panthers suddenly have the makings of a potential top-10 defense if the two newest additions fit in well.
