As complex as football is, a lot of who wins and who loses boils down to two things—quarterback play and who controls the line of scrimmage.
For the Carolina Panthers, neither is a guarantee.
To be fair on one of those accounts, Bryce Young has taken the strides he needs to have a breakthrough 2026 campaign. Meanwhile, the Panthers have invested a lot of resources into their offensive and defensive lines—both of which look a tad shaky heading into Week 1.
This is the biggest concern for Carolina going into the season, according to Mike Kaye at ESPN:
With left tackle Ikem Ekwonu (knee), right tackle Taylor Moton (blood clot) and defensive end Tershawn Wharton (neck) all likely to be sidelined for a while, Carolina will need to depend on new and unproven
players in their stead. Monroe Freeling, the Panthers' 2026 first-round draft pick, will replace Moton on the right side, while Ekwonu is replaced by Rasheed Walker. But the depth behind those players is suboptimal.
This is true, but it's also worth mentioning that very few NFL teams have optimal depth along their offensive lines.
Carolina has thrown as much effort as anyone can reasonably expect into improving this unit—including spending quite a bit more than any other team. Losing Moton and Ekwonu was simply bad luck, as is Wharton's neck injury.
Still, the Panthers have to expect better results than they got last season from both groups given their investments. A big year from rookie defensive tackle Lee Hunter would help a lot, as would a quick learning curve from Freeling at right tackle.
While you can only predict so much based on the preseason, the early signs are not the greatest. If Carolina loses the way it did at the line of scrimmage last month, they're not going to win the relatively weak NFC South again—no matter what Young does.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: ESPN names biggest concern for Panthers going into 2026 season
