Carolina Panthers 2024 schedule: Previewing what we know before the release

There is no set date for the 2024 NFL schedule release, but it's usually released sometime within the first two weeks of May. Fortunately, the Carolina Panthers probably won't have a ton of primetime games. The 2-15 squad from 2023 features many of the same core players. With a new coaching staff, this year could be a bumpy but encouraging one nonetheless.

In 2024, Carolina will play nine home games and eight away fixtures as the NFL flip-flops this between the two conferences. While the dates and times are not known for the contests as yet, we do know the opponents, and we'll cover them here.

Carolina Panthers 2024 season opponents

Home games

The NFC is the conference that gets nine home games this year, so Carolina gets to play over half of their games at home. This is great considering the work that needs to be done this year. However, one of these is slated for Germany as part of the league's ever-growing international series.

The 2023 season was one to forget for Carolina after so many raised expectations before the campaign. They limped to a 2-15 record in what was one of the sloppiest and most uninspiring campaigns in the history of their franchise.

Fortunately, new faces were brought in across the coaching staff, roster, and front office. New general manager Dan Morgan has certainly left an early mark on the team with his personnel moves, but his team will have quite the schedule in 2024.

Here's a list of the home opponents Carolina gets in 2024:

• Arizona Cardinals
• Atlanta Falcons
• Cincinnati Bengals
• Dallas Cowboys
• Kansas City Chiefs
• Los Angeles Chargers
• New Orleans Saints
• New York Giants
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Besides their obvious home games versus the NFC South, Carolina will also play the entirety of the AFC West and NFC East this year. Some notable matchups here come against the Cincinnati Bengals, who get Joe Burrow back from injury, the Dallas Cowboys, who will again be an NFC juggernaut, and the Kansas City Chiefs, who are the two-time defending Super Bowl champions.

The Atlanta Falcons are fielding a much different squad than in prior years. They inked Kirk Cousins to a massive contract with $100 million guaranteed and boast some dynamic playmakers on both sides of the football. Besides the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants, the other seven home games the Panthers will play in 2024 come against teams with a bona-fide, legitimate franchise quarterbacks, which is a problem.

Ejiro Evero, the Panthers stud defensive coordinator, is certainly going to have his hands full with the home games in 2024. But his work in 2023 with the team and in 2022 with the Denver Broncos should inspire some confidence that he can limit opposing offenses at home.

Away games

Here are the Panthers' eight away games in the 2024 NFL Season:

• Atlanta Falcons
• Chicago Bears
• Denver Broncos
• Las Vegas Raiders
• New Orleans Saints
• Philadelphia Eagles
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Washington Commanders

The Panthers' away games aren't nearly as hard on paper as their home clashes. Besides the three home games versus their NFC South foes, Carolina travels to face Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears, Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos, Gardner Minshew and the Las Vegas Raiders, Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles, together with Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders.

Assuming that the rookie quarterbacks do earn the starting nods for their respective teams, Carolina isn't going to have a tough signal-caller schedule traveling away from Bank of America Stadium. The best quarterback as of now in their away game slate is, who, Baker Mayfield? Maybe Derek Carr?

If Carolina can make a shocking leap in Year 1 of the Dave Canales era, it'll have to come with them winning a bulk of their away games. It would not at all be surprising to see the Panthers win five of these contests if all goes well. Much of this season does hinge on second-year signal-caller Bryce Young developing. If that can happen, the narrative with this team changes pretty quickly.

Right now, my gut tells me that a six-to-seven-win season is not out of the question. And frankly, if Carolina can scrape together seven wins in 2024, that'd be a miracle. One that would certainly give the team a ton of hope for the 2025 season.