Five Things the Panthers Must Improve in 2026

The situation calls for the offense to continue the drive, so why not push the defense and go for it with a big play? Still, the offense can wind up tiptoeing and calling a play that hasn’t worked throughout the game, only to produce another three-and-out and a punt that gives the defense more work.

Carolina converted only 36.1% of its third downs during the 2025 regular season, ranking near the bottom of the NFL, making offensive efficiency an area for improvement. This year, the Panthers are looking for this new play caller to assert the strength of the Carolina offense on every play. Playing smart still matters, but without an aggressive edge, the offense becomes too predictable.

The Defense Has Its Talent — Now Use It

Now, to the defense: the biggest part is integrating all the new assets the Panthers acquired. So far, Devin Lloyd and Jaelan Phillips have looked phenomenal in preseason, and the rookie tackle Monroe Freeling has been holding his own throughout camp.

Since this is only the preseason and everybody is running their most vanilla schemes, it’s hard to definitively assess how much stronger this defense has gotten.

Still, those names, along with players coming back like Lathan Ransom and Princely Umanmielen, will be among the players to watch for this upcoming season.

With a massive blow already in the season-ending injury to Nic Scourton, players on the defensive side of the ball should adopt a next-man-up mentality. Even though those players are the top ones to watch, anyone can grab the spotlight and make plays that elevate this team’s defense.

No More Excuses for Ejiro Evero

Throughout the fanbase, one coach who seems to be forever on the hot seat is defensive coordinator  Ejiro Evero.

In defense of Evero, most people will say things like “he has no star players”, “the defense played well most of the game except for a few minor mistakes”, or “He has no pass rush”. Carolina allowed opponents to convert 47.1% of their third-down opportunities in 2025, one of the league’s lowest-ranked third-down defenses.

But now he has those stars with the ability to rush the passer and play actual players at linebacker, so this year there should be none of those excuses. 

Joint preseason practices have already shown that opposing offenses carve up defensive schemes. A player will flash open, and the defense will wait until he’s caught the ball and begun to gain yards after the catch before closing in to make a tackle. 

As mentioned earlier, the defensive schemes are basic and vanilla, but unfortunately they still look like the schemes this team ran during the regular season. The hope is that something in the coaching room changes this year — that something in the coach’s room changes this year and this team comes out looking drastically different — but this will be the year to prove and answer all these questions. It may seem like a lot of questions to unpack for this team to be successful, but they’re not.

Getting Off the Field on Third Down

One of Carolina’s biggest priorities this season will be stopping third downs. The more the defense can run the opposing offense off the field, the more opportunities Carolina’s offense has to score.  In previous years, Carolina often put together two great downs where either the chains don’t move, or they come up with an incredible sack that puts the opponent in long positions, only for those minor mistakes to pop up. They convert the first down and continue the drive. It can be confusing that Evero isn’t a bad coach. Still, similar to Canales on offense, his schemes lean more toward damage control and managing situations than rallying for an aggressive attack first.

Over the past year and a half, this team has added pieces and progressed little by little.  If Carolina can address these top five things, the Panthers could improve beyond expectations.