At least we aren’t sliding backwards
The Carolina Panthers, residents of football purgatory since their failed 2015 Super Bowl run, have a lot of work to do to inspire their fans. As the likely owners of the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, they have the opportunity to erase some of their mistakes in recent seasons and address the disparity in talent between their roster and the roster of just about any other team in the league.
However, to do so, they will have to make prudent, strategic choices with their draft picks and other resources heading into the 2025 and 2026 off seasons and beyond. Our weekly confidence question partially gauges how fans think the team is doing week to week and partly gauges how we think the team is doing on that scale of seasons. This week, that confidence is holding relatively steady.
It is not holding relatively high, at only 26% of fans, but there was little movement from the 24% mark from last week after another expected loss to the Denver Broncos. The franchise may be evaluating Bryce Young, but the average fan has given up on him. Barring a surprisingly successful—or even competent—performance this weekend against the New Orleans Saints, don’t expect this number to change overmuch next week as the team travels to Munich, Germany to face the New York Giants and to force their brand of football on an undeserving international audience.