Panthers 2020 season – Syndication Server

What are the Panthers’ chances of making the 2020 playoffs?

Unless they tank or suffer a lot of serious injuries, these Panthers will be bad but not Trevor Lawrence bad.

Fairweather Panthers fans will be tested this season. After finishing 5-11 last year and then seeing so many important players either retire, sign elsewhere in free agency or get cut, the 2020 season looks as daunting as any in recent memory for this franchise.

What are their chances of making the playoffs this year? Not great.

ESPN ran 20,000 simulations for this upcoming season using their Football Power Index (FPI) prediction model. Things look good for the Chiefs, who have a 21% chance of repeating as Super Bowl champions according to their projections.

As for Carolina, the simulations had them winning an average of just 5.6 games and making the playoffs just 7% of the time. The only teams with worse odds were Washington (6%) and Jacksonville (4%). Finishing with the third-worst record in the league would be hard to swallow. It would also not low enough to land them the No. 1 overall pick in next year’s draft and a chance to pick a new franchise quarterback.

Unless they tank or suffer a lot of serious injuries, these Panthers will be bad but not Trevor Lawrence bad.

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USA TODAY predicts ‘rough ride’ for Panthers in 2020

Looking ahead, the Panthers appear to be one of the weakest teams in the league this year, at least on paper.

Matt Rhule and Marty Hurney won’t call it a rebuild. Whatever you want to call it though, it’s undeniable the Panthers are entering a transitional period going into the 2020 NFL season. After going 5-11 last year, the team has lost several key pieces on both sides of the ball, incuding their two best players in Cam Newton and Luke Kuechly.

Looking ahead, the Panthers appear to be one of the weakest teams in the league this year, at least on paper.

The folks at USA TODAY seem to agree but they’re a lot more bearish on this group than we are. According to national NFL writer Nate Davis, Carolina will only go 3-13 this season.

“New coach with limited NFL experience (Matt Rhule). New playbooks on both sides of the ball. New quarterback with six starts in the past four seasons (Teddy Bridgewater). No Luke Kuechly. Three divisional opponents who project as tough outs. Rough ride seems likely.”

It’s fair to predict a rough ride and nobody in their right mind thinks this team is going to the playoffs this year. However, 3-13 sounds just a bit too harsh. Talent-wise it will admittedly be tough for the Panthers to compete in a loaded NFC South division, especially with a very inexperienced defense going up against three future Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

Coaching counts for a lot, though.

If Matt Rhule, Joe Brady and Phil Snow are all as good as advertised and they really embrace modern ways of thinking they could upset “better” teams. Their passing offense in particular might be surprisingly potent under the guidance of an innovative, young play-caller.

Unless they get afflicted by a rash of injuries, we’re predicting a 6-10 finish in the regular season.

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16 storylines to follow for the 2020 Panthers season

Here are 16 we will be following this year, one for each game.

The Carolina Panthers released their schedule for the 2020 NFL season on Thursday night. As always, there are a ton of interesting stories.

Here are 16 we will be following this year, one for each game.

Week 1 vs. Raiders: Trench warfare

Kawann Short — Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The Panthers begin the 2020 season at home against the Raiders. While Derek Carr and Josh Jacobs get a lot of the attention, Las Vegas wins games by dominating at the line of scrimmage. Specifically, they have a powerful offensive line with only one weak spot – left tackle Kolton Miller. The rest of their starters are big, strong and very capable at what they do. That will put Carolina’s new-look defensive line to the test. Rookies Derrick Brown and Yetur-Gross Matos should start along with Brian Burns and Kawann Short, who missed 14 games due to a shoulder injury last year. Besting this Raiders OL would be an unexpected victory and a great sign of things to come for this unit.

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