Only Five Panthers Remain From 2015-16

Just over four years removed from the Panthers' 15-1 season and Super Bowl run, now only five players remain on the team's roster heading into the 2020 NFL season.

The Panthers have obviously taken a new direction as a franchise. With new ownership and a fresh coaching staff, it's apparent the team has cleared house. A side effect of this is many household names to most Panthers fans are no longer with the franchise. Greg Olsen, Jonathan Stewart, Luke Kuechly, Charles Johnson, Ted Ginn Jr., Thomas Davis, and likely Cam Newton were all fan favorites in Carolina for many years but have now departed.

In fact, only five players remain on the Panthers’ current roster from the 2015-16 season. They include Tre Boston, Kawann Short, and Shaq Thompson. Kicker, Graham Gano, and long snapper J.J. Jansen also still currently on the Panthers roster.

The 2015-16 Panthers were 15-1, won the NFC Championship, advancing to the Super Bowl where they lost to the Denver Broncos. For Panthers fans it must seem like their Super Bowl run and Cam Newton’s MVP season was ages ago, but that is just the reality of the NFL. Time moves on.

The Panthers are now reloading and luckily the NFL has one of the highest turnover rates in all of professional sports - meaning teams can go from a bottom tier team to a fringe playoff team quicker than other professional sports leagues like the NBA or MLB. The Panthers have seven picks in this April’s NFL Draft, so hitting on draft picks will be key to retooling their roster for future success.

Owner David Tepper has already started the rebuild process by hiring Matt Rhule who has turned around two separate college football programs - Temple and Baylor - in record time. Tepper is more than confident Rhule will do the same at the NFL level with the Panthers. New offensive coordinator Joe Brady was the passing game coordinator at LSU in 2019 during their National Championship run with Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow. Carolina's new defensive coordinator, Phil Snow, came over with Matt Rhule from Baylor. 

There are now new faces that will lead the Carolina Panthers into the future such as Pro Bowl running back Christian McCaffrey, Brian Burns, Teddy Bridgewater, D.J. Moore, Curtis Samuel, and many others.

What do you think of the Panthers' decisions they’ve made this offseason? Which player(s) will you miss the most? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below and discuss it with fellow Panther fans!

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