The change may very well be real for the Carolina Panthers.
Tomorrow’s matchup against last year’s NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys will kick off with the Panthers as the betting favorites, the first such instance for the team since the 2022 campaign. There are a few important factors to attribute that standing to—including a No. 1 overall pick who is actually playing like a No. 1 overall pick and a head coach whose game plan and vision have made a positive impact on the locker room.
There may, however, be another person or two to credit.
Dianna Russini, senior NFL insider for The Athletic, highlighted the organization’s recent turnaround in her newest column from Saturday morning. She notes that owners David and Nicole Tepper are “letting the football people do the football things.”
Russini writes:
Carolina Panthers owners David and Nicole Tepper strongly believe they have the right leaders in place. The owners are sticking with their vision for the future, showing confidence in general manager Dan Morgan and head coach Dave Canales. Both will be back next season, and it’s easy to see why — ownership is thrilled by the steady growth of second-year quarterback Bryce Young, who’s starting to show off his special qualities. Tepper has a high standard, and losing close games to good opponents still isn’t good enough, but this team is trending in a different direction than it was just two months ago.
The Teppers, particularly David, have received some criticism in the past for being a bit too hands-on with the football side of the operation.
Whether or not that’s fair, the results haven’t been kind to the billionaire businessman—who has cycled through four different full-time head coaches and 10 different starting quarterbacks in his seven years as owner. Those seven years, in addition, have failed to yield a single winning season.
But even at 3-10 as we enter Week 15, this losing record feels very different.
As Russini also wrote, the Panthers are “no longer beating themselves with costly mistakes” and have been remarkably competitive of late. Carolina—in their last three outings—nearly pulled off impressive upsets of the 12-1 Kansas City Chiefs, the 7-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the 11-2 Philadelphia Eagles.
So while the wins still have to come, the outlook for the Panthers certainly feels the brightest it has in quite some time.
[lawrence-related id=703978,698922,692457]