It is perhaps underappreciated, in the discourse about the 2025 NFL season, just how weird the ending was for the NFC South. The Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers went into the final weekend of the regular season with a chance to win the division, but the game that finally decided who would wear the crowd was played by the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints.

The Falcons and Saints had been eliminated from the division race weeks earlier. The Buccaneers beat the Panthers in Week 18 to put both teams at 8-9, and in a two-team tiebreaker situation Tampa Bay would have won the division based on a better record against common opponents. However, the Falcons' Week 18 win over the Saints put them at 8-9, as well, creating a three-team tiebreaker situation that tilted in Carolina's favor thanks to its season sweep of Atlanta.

The Falcons won four games in a row to conclude their season but still dismissed General Manager Terry Fontenot and Head Coach Raheem Morris hours after their win over the Saints. New Orleans won four of its last five games, with the only loss coming to Atlanta. Meanwhile, Carolina dropped three of its last four decisions and the Bucs lost four of their last five.

But it's the Panthers who get to hang a banner, and they not only got to host a playoff game but actually took the powerful Rams down to the wire. Los Angeles scored a touchdown with 38 seconds left to pull out a 34-31 Wild Card Round victory. And it's the Panthers who have a chance to start a division-winning streak after both the Saints and Buccaneers won the South four times in a row over the previous eight years. Given the results of the final month-plus within the division, however, it's hard to name a favorite among the four teams or rule any of them out as contenders.

Much of how the NFC South race eventually shapes up next fall will be determined by the moves that the teams make over between now and the summer, or in some cases have already made. For that reason, we're going to keep an eye on what is transpiring in Atlanta, Charlotte and New Orleans with our monthly "NFC South Check-Ins." Once a month from February through May we're going to look at how the rosters, leadership and opportunities are shaping up for the Falcons, Panthers and Saints. After starting with the Falcons last week, we now turn our attention to the defending champs.

2026 Carolina Panthers

News/Developments Since the End of the 2025 Season:

While the Falcons made the big moves at the top of their organizational chart noted above and the Buccaneers overhauled a good bit of their coaching staff, the Panthers have been understandably quiet since capturing that division title in Dave Canales' second season as head coach. Canales is keeping his entire coaching staff intact for a third season and Dan Morgan also heads into his third season as the team's general manager.

Canales might have done some homework on potential defensive coordinator candidates because there was a chance his own man in that job, Ejiro Evero, would leave for a head coaching job. Evero interviewed for the openings in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Las Vegas but all 10 vacancies filled up without him getting the call so he returns for a fourth season with the Panthers. Evero was actually hired by Frank Reich in 2023 but was then retained when Canales succeeded Reich in 2024.

The Panthers do head into the offseason with a significant injury concern to monitor. Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu left the playoff contest against the Rams just eight plays in with a knee injury that Canales described as "significant" after the game. A day later, Canales revealed that Ekwonu had suffered a ruptured patellar tendon, an injury that could put the blocker's training camp or possibly even the start of next season in doubt.

Morgan also held a press conference three days after the playoff loss and among the topics covered was the contract of quarterback Bryce Young, the first-overall pick in the 2023 draft. Since Young has now completed his third season, the team now must decide by an NFL deadline later this spring whether it will pick up the fifth-year option that is standard in the contracts of all first-round selections. Morgan took the mystery out of that decision by announcing that the Panthers would definitely be exercising that option, which would cover the 2027 season. Morgan said the young passer showed "flashes of greatness" during the 2025 campaign.

The biggest news surrounding the Panthers since the end of the 2025 season came during the NFL Honors show the week of the Super Bowl. Carolina wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, the eighth-overall pick in last year's draft, was named the Offensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press after he led all NFL rookies with 1,014 receiving yards. Then, in arguably an even more significant development for the franchise, former linebacker Luke Kuechly was one of four modern-era players chosen to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Class of 2026. Kuechly's career was limited to eight seasons by repeated concussions but he was the Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2012, the Defensive Player of the Year in 2013, a first-team All-Pro five times and a Pro Bowl selection in each of his last seven campaigns.

Potential Unrestricted Free Agents:

The Panthers don't have a ton of cap space heading into the 2026 season after spending heavily in free agency last spring, but they have a fairly manageable list of pending unrestricted free agents. The trickiest spot is likely the offensive line, where starting center Cade Mays could hit free agency, as could most of the team's O-Line reserves, including Yosh Nijman, Brady Christensen, Austin Corbett and Jake Curhan. It was Nijman who stepped in for Ekwonu in the playoff loss, while Corbett spent much of the 2025 season as a starting guard due to injuries to Robert Hunt.

Running back Rico Dowdle, who led the team with 1,076 rushing yards while playing on a one-year contract, is also a potential departure. He admitted after the season that he wasn't certain if he would return to Carolina after his role in the offense shrunk a bit down the stretch. Dowdle had 12 or fewer carries in each of the Panthers' last four games and was limited to five totes for nine yards in the playoff loss.

The Panthers' defense has a trio of starters that could hit free agency in March: outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum, linebacker Christian Rozeboom and safety Nick Scott. Rozeboom and Scott were the team's two leading tacklers, with 122 and 109 stops, respectively, while Wonnum contributed 3.0 sacks. Other reserves on the Panthers defense who could become free agents include linebacker Krys Barnes, outside linebacker Trevis Gipson and cornerbacks Akayleb Evans and Robert Rochell. Carolina might also face some changes on special teams with both punter Sam Martin and long-snapper J.J. Jansen set to become free agents.

2026 NFL Draft:

The Panthers ended up with the 19th pick in the first round of the 2026 draft after they were eliminated from the playoffs and were the team with the worst regular season record of the six Wild Card round losers. That is the latest they have been slotted to pick in the first round since they also lost in the Wild Card round in 2018 and ended up with the 24th selection.

Carolina has held on to all of its own picks in the seven rounds and will pick 51st in Round Two and 83rd in Round Three. The Panthers also own Minnesota's fifth-round pick, which they gained by trading long-time Vikings receiver Adam Thielen back to his original team last season. Carolina is actually slated to make two consecutive picks in the fifth round at numbers 156 and 157. As big spenders in free agency in 2025, the Panthers are not expected to be awarded any compensatory selections.

A year ago, the Panthers opted for McMillan at pick number eight despite expectations that they might look for defensive help in the first round after setting an NFL record for points allowed in 2024. But they used free agency to hit a lot of spots on their defensive depth chart and made good strides on that side of the ball in 2025, and McMillan was obviously a hit. They also nabbed edge rusher Nic Scourton, who had 5.0 sacks as a rookie, in the second round.

The Panthers could do something similar in the first round this spring, an upgrade over 2024 first-round selection Xavier Legette, who had just 35 receptions for 363 yards in 15 games last season. That could be another receiver or, as was predicted in the first Buccaneers.com mock draft last week, dynamic Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq.

The offensive line could also be a target for the Panthers in the early rounds given the uncertainty around Ekwonu and the possible free agency defections. While this year's draft class is not considered one of the stronger ones in recent years it is pretty deep in quality offensive line candidates. Other potential needs for the Panthers include linebacker, safety and edge rusher. Even after drafting Scourton and fellow edge rusher Princely Umanmielen on Day Two last year, Carolina tied for the league's third-lowest sack total (30) in 2025.