The Carolina Panthers defense was atrocious in 2024, ranking dead last in the NFL in several major categories: points, yards, yards allowed per play, and first downs surrendered.
The 2025 iteration plans to bury that past quickly.
"We don't need to be anything close to that," cornerback Jaycee Horn said, via the team’s official website. "You kind of want to throw it out of your mind because it's a new season, but at the same time, it's on the back of your mind too, because that should be really all the motivation you need to come back to camp. You don't want nothing like that to happen again. It was a lot of injuries and a lot of stuff of that nature, but at the same time, the stat book is what it is. Like, we weren't a good defense last year, so this year we just have to go even harder than we did last year.
"It's out there, yeah. I mean, you know it is what it is. You've just got to go about handling it the right way, bouncing back."
The Panthers defense was not only the worst in the league last season -- it was historically bad. Their 534 points allowed set an NFL record for a season. The club finished second all-time in yards allowed (6,877) and third all-time in rush yards allowed (3,057).
Outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum said the leadership is hell bent on fixing last year's issues.
"We know this is not the standard," Wonnum said. "And that goes back to the competitive nature that Jaycee, [Derrick Brown] and all those guys have on the field. It makes us want to go and compete more and more. There's no getting away from it. And we're not running from it either, but we're going to show y'all, we're gonna show the improvement, and how much better we are and how much better we can be."
Getting back the big man Brown, who missed the entire 2024 campaign, is a big boon off the bat. Then the Panthers went out on the first day of free agency and scooped up Tre'von Moehrig, Tershawn Wharton, Bobby Brown III, Patrick Jones II and Christian Rozeboom. Perhaps not household names, but certainly improvements to the roster in Carolina. The Panthers also added pass rushers Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen, along with safety Lathan Ransom, and defensive tackle Cam Jackson in the draft.
With training camp opening next week, we'll get a look at how the new faces meld in Ejiro Evero's schemes. It certainly can't be worse than last year.
"For the defensive guys, it's a new year," coach Dave Canales said. "We've got a bunch of new faces, and the guys who were here last year, they take a lot of pride in making sure that we're the best we can be this year."
