4 reasons to be positive about Carolina Panthers long-term future
By Dean Jones
Things might not be going well right now, but there are many reasons to be positive about the Carolina Panthers’ long-term future.
It’s easy for fans to start looking to the future given the Carolina Panthers’ recent struggles. Even with major performance improvements under Steve Wilks, they find themselves at 2-6 and blew a huge opportunity to take control of the NFC South in Week 8 by letting things slip late at the Atlanta Falcons.
This was a game Carolina should have won, but didn’t. However, it was encouraging to see some fight from a talented group that seems to be enjoying a new lease of life under their interim head coach.
There is a lot of work ahead and big changes are clearly coming in 2023. After so much mismanagement of personnel under Matt Rhule, the margin for error is incredibly slim and something those in power must get right to smoothen the road back to relevancy.
With that in mind, here are four reasons to be positive about Carolina’s long-term future despite another failed season in the offing this year.
Reason No. 1
Carolina Panthers have huge draft capital
The Carolina Panthers decided to focus on the future by trading Robbie Anderson and Christian McCaffrey for substantial draft capital. This gives them plenty of options in 2023 and beyond to build around cheap contracts and strengthen key positional groups.
According to Tankathon, the Panthers are slotted to have eight selections in the 2023 NFL Draft. Four of those are set to be in the top 105 right now after their deal with the San Francisco 49ers for McCaffrey.
General manager Scott Fitterer has an eye for college talent. So a strong draft next spring would set things up nicely for the Panthers long-term.