NFL insider says Carolina Panthers caught in a frantic cycle, compares them to ship taking on water

Charlotte Observer beat reporter Mike Kaye finds the perfect way to describe the situation for Panthers.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - OCTOBER 06: Bryce Young #9 shakes hands with Andy Dalton #14 of the Carolina Panthers against the Chicago Bears during the fourth quarter at Soldier Field on October 06, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. / (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

It's been tough sailing for the Carolina Panthers so far in the 2024 NFL season. Andy Dalton's two-game-long hot streak inspired some foolish hope that this franchise could be not so terribly far behind the competition after all. However, after last week's crushing loss to the mediocre Chicago Bears, the Panthers have a 1-5 record and it's difficult to project which teams remaining on their schedule they could beat as presently constructed.

Injuries are the team's biggest issue at the moment and they have hit an already-poor defensive unit particularly hard. Carolina's lack of depth at some key positions (cornerback and edge especially) has been exposed and right now they're by far the worst-performing defense in the NFL, allowing a league-high 33 points per game, four more than any other team.

The Charlotte Observer's Panthers beat reporter Mike Kaye came up with a very apt comparison for the team's situation in his weekly mailbag column that came out today. He likens the franchise to a ship taking on water, frantically trying to plug up holes.

Charlotte Observer on the Panthers

"Essentially, the Panthers, with the trade up for Young and the subsequent failure to develop him, have created a cycle of frantically plugging holes while the ship takes on water. If the offensive upgrades improved Young’s performance as intended, the offense would have given the defense a much bigger margin for error. Unfortunately, through five weeks and a QB change, defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero’s group has had little wiggle room for mistakes."

Kaye is right, and this is a pretty sharp comparison. However, that vicious cycle at QB has been going on far longer than Bryce Young has been around. Ever since Cam Newton suffered his Lisfranc injury just before the 2019 season began, the team has made a series of increasingly desperate moves at quarterback and exactly none of them have panned out.

So far the trade up for Young has aged worse than any other, but the Sam Darnold deal was no piece of cherry pie and Teddy Bridgewater's contract turned out to be an all-time bad idea, to name just a couple of their worst missteps during this descent into the eighth level of quarterback hell.

Along the way the Panthers have also given up on a couple of quarterbacks who are now thriving in other places, most notably Darnold with Minnesota and Baker Mayfield in Tampa. Cam Newton also clearly still had something in him in the first weeks of the 2020 season in New England. This suggests that the team may have given up too early on all of them. Maybe they'll learn the lesson this time.

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