Dan Morgan set out his stall early in free agency. He wanted to give the Carolina Panthers a more competitive defense and stopped at nothing to achieve this objective. There were some slight pivots along the way, but the general manager seemed satisfied with the pieces acquired during a frantic recruitment period.
However, one NFL executive gave the Panthers' offseason approach a less promising assessment with what can only be described as a brutal reality check.
Morgan is working with a long-term plan in mind. His first offseason at the helm focused on fortifying the offense to get a genuine evaluation of quarterback Bryce Young. This spring revolved around enhancing Ejiro Evero's historically bad defense, leaving no excuses for the defensive coordinator next time around.
It's a risky strategy, especially when it comes to standing pat at the offensive skill positions. Morgan will add more during the 2025 NFL Draft with nine picks at his disposal, but reports suggest the defensive philosophy will continue early in the process.
Having a more balanced roster is going to make things easier for Young, but he'll need players like Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker to progress accordingly. Morgan believes it's the right thing to do, so it'll be interesting to see if these moves bear fruit.
NFL executive believes Carolina Panthers got a little better, but it's still early days
An anonymous NFL executive speaking to Mike Sando from The Athletic thought the Panthers got a little better in free agency. He also poured cold water on the team's hopes for progression in 2025, given this project is still in its relative infancy.
"They got a little better, but they are still working from a deficit. They were a three-year reset from last year, so this is just year two for them."Anonymous NFL executive
Panthers fans won't like it, but it's a fair assessment.
Morgan, Brandt Tilis, and Dave Canales were left with an ungodly mess to clean up by the two previous regimes. They've steadied the ship and brought more professionalism to the front-office process. But there is a lot of hard work remaining before Carolina is ready to challenge other contenders around the league.
At the same time, there's genuine hope at long last.
The Panthers have stability where once there was nothing but dysfunction. Young showed promise over the second half of 2024 and Carolina ran some leading Super Bowl hopefuls extremely close. It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it represented a positive step in the right direction nonetheless.
If the new signings bear fruit, the Panthers manage to hit on the majority of their draft selections, and the team's fledgling young stars all make the necessary improvements, this could be a team to watch in 2025. It also helps that Carolina doesn't reside in the strongest division, so an NFC South championship charge couldn't be completely dismissed if everything goes well.
Nobody is expecting the Panthers to be hoisting the Vince Lombardi trophy after the season. But that's not the only way this up-and-coming squad can come out of the campaign with credit.
A winning record would be a good place to start. And make no mistake, it's an attainable objective.