A week ago, the Carolina Panthers beat the then 5-1-1 Green Bay Packers to improve to 5-4 and let the world know that they could beat any team in the NFL. Talks all week were of playoff scenarios, being
ahead of schedule, and the prudence of head coach Dave Canales’ strategy to commot to the run. Yesterday, those same Panthers lost 17-7 to the now 2-8 New Orleans Saints to remind their fans that they are also still capable of losing to absolutely any team in the NFL.
We talked here last week about how the team’s recent success was masking a fatal flaw: poor quarterback play. Wins were by the skin of the team’s teeth when better passing would have produced more comfortable margins. The Saints took that to heart and became the first team on the Panthers 2025 schedule to completely sell out against the run and dare Bryce Young to beat them. They will not be the last.
Young spent the day missing, in every sense of the word, open receivers and making bad decisions with the football. The recipe of limiting risks and winning on the ground was completely inverted. That’s going to make for tough sledding for the Panthers for the rest of the season, even if Young manages a few relatively better days. There is no optimism in that.
Instead, I’m just going to focus on one Panthers player for the rest of this column: Nic Scourton.
On the cusp of greatness
Scourton has been laboring under the label of “promising young pass rusher” all season. As a rookie, it is to be expected that he has been more potential than polish on the field most of the season. But it has been exciting to see just how much potential.
His single spin move won’t get him past the better tackles in the league, but his athleticism and understanding of the defense have already put him into position to make a dozen plays over the season. Adding a handful of skills to that base over the next couple of seasons will turn him into a true force to be reckoned with.
We got a glimpse of that yesterday with Scourton working against Saints tackle Taliese Fuaga most of the game, who has only played in three games this season. He only registered four tackles, including one sack and one more tackle for loss, but he seemed to live in the backfield yesterday. If there was pressure on Tyler Shough, Scourton was likely part of it. I’m looking forward to advanced metrics on Scourton’s actual pressure rates from yesterday. I think they are going to be a preview of what he can look like as a complete player.
The process matters
Coming out of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Panthers top needs still included two starting caliber outside linebackers alongside a quarterback, an inside linebacker, and a safety. Going into the 2026 NFL Draft, it looks like that has been pared down to one starting caliber inside linebacker. That’s a huge win for the Panthers and a huge win for the draft reputation of general manager Dan Morgan.
Morgan’s complicated trade with the Denver Broncos in the second round cost the Panthers very little and seems to have netted them a future star at a premium position.
Few fans were upset that the Panthers held firm at the trade deadline and most of us predicted a season that fell in the neighborhood of 5-7 wins. One of our regular commenters from across the pond will even remind you this morning that, at 5-5 and with seven games remaining, the Panthers could still win ten games.
We all knew this team wasn’t ready to really compete. The roster is still recovering from years of mismanagement and the quarterback question, now seemingly answered, was still a question entering the season.
Scourton is both a ray of hope as an individual piece of the Panthers defense and emblematic of a process that, under Morgan, will hopefully continue to build and improve the roster at every position.
Yesterday sucked. The team fell flat as soon as they had some monentum. They did at home and against the worst possible opponent, a floundering division rival. But I’m still actually optimistic and not just find-an-angle-because-that’s -the-point-of-this-column optimistic. These aren’t the Matt Rhule/Marty “Meatballs” Hurney/Scott Fitterer years.
Visible progress
Yes, quarterback is a big and difficult question right now. Yes, the team’s famously impatient owner could mortgage the future once again to force another bad investment on an unproven young player. But there is no guarantee he will.
Right now, just three seasons after the ill-advised trade up for Young, the team is on the verge of being competitive again. They are far closer today to being “one quarterback away” than they were in 2023. That is progress.
There is actual talent on this roster. That talent was acquired by the people who are currently in charge. The players seem to respond to and play for their leaders. The roster is improving. The culture is improving. And everybody is learning. I’ll take that.
