By Harry P McGill ยท August 29, 2026
The Carolina Panthers finished the preseason 3 and 1, which is nice in roughly the same way that winning a hand of blackjack with Monopoly money is nice. You enjoyed yourself, nobody got hurt by the result, and you shouldn't start making retirement plans.
Still, preseason football can tell us something if we're careful about what we ask of it. Over four games, two joint practices and a summer's worth of training camp, the Panthers gave us enough evidence to form an early opinion. Mine is fairly simple: this looks like a deeper and more talented football team than Carolina has fielded recently. It also remains a team with a few questions large enough to ruin everyone's autumn if the answers go badly.
Young's preseason was a tidy little illustration of why opinions about him remain so divided. Against Buffalo, the starting offense was dreadful. Young completed 3 of 5 passes for 18 yards, Carolina ran nine plays without producing a first down, and the entire operation looked disturbingly familiar.
Then came Jacksonville. Young completed 5 of 6 for 49 yards, and the Panthers marched 58 yards on their opening possession before Jonathon Brooks scored from the one. Carolina's starters needed only 11 offensive plays that night before Dave Canales had seen enough. That was the version of Young we've heard about throughout camp: decisive, accurate and comfortable within the offense.
Then Houston's pass rush abused Carolina's offense during the final joint practice. Canales called the session "lopsided," and Young himself said it "sucked." That matters more to me than Friday's finale, when the starters watched from the sideline.
The good Bryce looks capable of leading a playoff team. The bad version still allows pressure to shrink the offense too quickly. We enter September without knowing which one will appear most often.
The Panthers couldn't have known Taylor Moton would develop a blood clot in his lung when they used the 19th pick on Monroe Freeling. They did know Moton was getting older and that good offensive tackles are considerably easier to draft before you desperately need one.
Now they desperately need one.
Freeling has spent the summer getting accelerated training at right tackle. There have been good moments and rookie moments, and Houston's Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter provided a rather unpleasant final examination during the joint practice. That should concern Carolina without causing panic. Rookie tackles occasionally get whipped by elite NFL pass rushers. Veteran tackles do too.
Dan Morgan's decision to draft Freeling looks smarter today than it did in April. Without him, Moton's absence could have become the defining problem of the offense before Week One.
Friday night's 16 to 13 win over Houston was mostly backups fighting for employment, but I loved one thing about it. Carolina forced four turnovers, including two interceptions and two recovered fumbles. The Panthers finished the night allowing only 13 points while Trevis Gipson and Trevin Wallace created immediate pressure.
There were encouraging signs with the starters earlier in the preseason as well. Against Buffalo, free agent additions Jaelan Phillips and Devin Lloyd both flashed against Josh Allen and the Bills' first team offense. Phillips recorded a red zone sack, while Lloyd produced three tackles and a run stop in limited action.
That's important because losing Nic Scourton to a torn ACL on the first day of camp was a legitimate blow. Scourton tied for the team lead with five sacks last season. Carolina needs its veteran additions to replace some of that lost disruption.
Brooks returned against Buffalo after missing the entire 2025 season following his second ACL tear. He touched the ball four times on Carolina's nine first team snaps and finished with 14 yards from scrimmage. A week later in Jacksonville, he scored from the one.
The statistics are almost beside the point. Brooks took NFL contact, got back up and did it again. With Chuba Hubbard established and Brooks finally healthy enough to contribute, Carolina may have a backfield capable of making life considerably easier for Young.
This may be my biggest takeaway from August. Carolina won three preseason games largely because the bottom half of the roster frequently looked competent. Haynes King produced that marvelous Hall of Fame Game performance before a hamstring injury interrupted his summer. Kenny Pickett threw for 137 yards and a touchdown against Jacksonville. Lathan Ransom, Trevin Wallace, Cam Gill and others made plays when the starters were resting.
For years, one Panthers injury seemed capable of producing three roster problems. This team finally has some insulation. It reminds me of those old Sears DieHard battery commercials. You didn't appreciate the thing until everything else went wrong.
I feel better about the Panthers today than I did when camp opened, but not because they went 3 and 1. I feel better because the roster looks deeper, the defense appears capable of creating pressure and turnovers, Brooks is back, and Freeling has survived an unexpectedly difficult summer assignment.
My concerns are equally clear. Moton's absence matters. Scourton's injury matters. Xavier Legette's foot needs watching. And most importantly, Carolina still needs Young and the offense to prove they can function consistently when a quality pass rush starts wrecking the plan.
The preseason provided enough evidence to believe these Panthers can be good. It did not provide enough to assume they will be.
That's fine. September is supposed to answer the questions August couldn't.