Yes, the 2024 Carolina Panthers had the worst defense of all time

It’s not as bad as that seems

The 2024 Carolina Panthers would like to be remembered as the team that resurrected Bryce Young’s career. Instead, they will most frequently referenced in the coming years as the team that surrendered the most points in a single season in NFL history. If the point of a defensive unit is to prevent the opposing team from scoring points then the Panthers had the worst defense of all time this year.

A combination of injuries, a lack of depth, and a handful of uncharacteristically competitive shoot outs led opposing teams to score a whopping 534 points against the Panthers across 17 games. That’s just shy of 32 points per game. They took the record for total points allowed from the 2-14 1981 Baltimore Colts, but left that team in possession of the record for points allowed per game. Those Colts allowed 33.3 points per game. The league average for points allowed per game has never exceeded 25.

If you want to feel better about that then consider that defense was barely part of the team’s plan this season. Josey Jewell and an aged Jadaveon Clowney were the highest profile free agents that the Panthers signed to an already talent strapped squad. In return, they lost Brian Burns, Donte Jackson, Jeremy Chinn, and Frankie Luvu, among others. It’s not that the talent the team lost couldn’t have been upgraded, it’s just that they weren’t.

The focus for this season, for all of last season’s free agency dollars, and for most of the team’s 2024 draft picks was in surrounding Young with talent to see if he could hack it in the NFL. That strategy has paid off to a degree as Young has put together a strong enough season to warrant keeping for 2025. What’s more, he’s also keeping most of his supporting cast on multi-year deals signed last year and getting continuity in his coaching staff. Hooray for the offense, right?

Now general manager Dan Morgan and his sidekick, Brandt Tilis, can at least balance their team building approach for 2025. Expect a few bigger signings to help bolster the front seven and maybe even a high profile draft pick to infuse more talent into the secondary.

Deep breaths, and enjoy having a head coach who can take things like this in stride. After all, what’s better than being first last in a contest?

Update:

For those of you wondering about the future of defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero after this season, here’s your answer: