No one is thinking of the Carolina Panthers as legitimate playoff contenders heading into 2024. Well, maybe no one other than new head coach Dave Canales.
Canales was speaking about the Panthers’ prospects in the NFC South and actually thinks the team can compete for the division crown next season.
“I think we’re going to be competitive for the division this year,” Canales said, via Greg Auman of Fox Sports. “What I’m saying is, if we play good football, if we can get the football right like we believe we can, and we can take care of the football, let the numbers take care of themselves, we’ll be in the hunt. We’ll be in every single game, which will give us an opportunity to be in the hunt for the division at the end.”
Of course, Canales isn’t going to come out and say that his squad has no chance of winning anything in 2024, so one can look at this as Coach Speak 101.
But in Canales’ defense, the NFC South isn’t exactly a division full of juggernauts. As a matter of fact, Canales was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers club that won the division with a 9-8 record this past year. Canales served as offensive coordinator of that group.
So, perhaps the Panthers can be somewhat competitive in these upcoming matchups.
“Every one of those games is going to be a huge opportunity for us to become us, to see what version of football we want to play,” Canales said. “We want to walk off that field saying, ‘This is Panthers football.’ It’s tough. It’s fast. It’s physical. It’s a really intelligent style of play. That’s kind of going to be our approach.”
Carolina went just 2-15 in 2023, so Canales certainly has a lot of work to do. The Panthers still need to add some more weapons for quarterback Bryce Young, who had a rough rookie campaign. They were able to swing a trade for wide receiver Diontae Johnson, which is a good start.
We’ll see if Carolina can add any more impactful players in the NFL Draft next month.
And we’ll see just how competitive the Panthers will be come September.
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