Dan Morgan's major offseason investment backfired on the Carolina Panthers, proving one area is still a major concern after Week 1

In the 2024, the Carolina Panthers fielded arguably the worst defense in the entire league and one of the worst statistical units the franchise has ever seen. Granted a lot of things went into that final outcome and constant performance.

Which is why, during this past offseason, Panthers general manager Dan Morgan made it a point to overhaul the unit and specifically improve one key area, the run defense.

Along with all the new additions added to the roster, the Panthers also were set to get Pro Bowl defensive tackle Derrick Brown back in the fold after missing nearly the entire 2024 season.

All of those signs pointed toward a much stronger unit up-front for the Panthers, and those hopes were quickly extinguished after the first game of the regular season.

Panthers run defense struggles vs. Jaguars

"That falls on us up-front," Brown said after the 26-10 loss. "We take pride in stopping the run and obviously we didn't get that done today. You'll see a different version of us."

The play that really sucked all of the life out of the Panthers defense came in the second quarter, after returning from the weather delay, when Jaguars running back Travis Etienne broke loose for a 71-yard run. After that, it was all downhill for the Jaguars run game that finished with 200 rushing yards and averaged 6.3 yards per attempt as an offense.

“That hurt,” cornerback Jaycee Horn said. “Whenever a running back breaks like that, it hurts. You don’t want to give those up as a defense.”