It's highly unlikely Carolina Panthers end playoff drought in 2025, analyst says

The Carolina Panthers are tied with the Atlanta Falcons for the second-longest playoff drought in the NFL. Neither of those two teams has made it to the postseason since 2017, and only the New York Jets (14 seasons) have a longer drought. The Jets have the longest drought in all major American sports.

Unfortunately, the Panthers are not expected to end that drought this year. Of the six teams facing notable, four-year or longer droughts, only the New Orleans Saints are considered less likely to make it this season, per CBS Sports' Garrett Podell.

Podell began by admitting that Bryce Young's turnaround gives Carolina some hope, and that the tweaks they've made to the offense this offseason have been good, notably the addition of Tetairoa McMillan. However, the problem lies on the other side of the ball.

"It's worth noting that defensive tackle Derrick Brown went down with a season-ending injury in Week 1, but the Panthers were the NFL's worst defense across the board in 2024," Podell said. "They were dead last in scoring defense (31.4 points per game allowed), total defense (404.5 total yards per game allowed), rushing yards per game allowed (179.8 rushing yards per game allowed) and yards per play allowed (6.0)."

They became the first defense in NFL history to allow 3,000 rushing yards (3,057) and 35 passing touchdowns (35). "The Panthers did a decent job of fortifying their defense in both free agency (defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton, defensive tackle Bobby Brown, edge rusher Patrick Jones II and safety Tre'von Moehrig) and in the draft (second-round edge rusher Nic Scourton and third-round edge rusher Princely Umanmielen). Will it be enough to raise the level of a historically bad unit in 2025? It feels like more development needs to occur," Podell concluded.

According to him, the Falcons, Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, and New York Jets are more likely to make the postseason.