Jordan Dajani ain’t buyin’ what Vegas is sellin’, at least when it comes to the 2023 Carolina Panthers.
The CBS Sports scribe recently predicted the biggest win total discrepancies for the upcoming campaign—examining five teams who could far exceed, or fall short of, their projected records. Dajani has the Panthers in the more flattering group, noting the many reasons why they may shoot right past their projection of 7.5 dubs:
The Panthers could be the team in the NFC South that rise above the rest. They actually gave the Bucs a run for their money last year despite firing their head coach midseason and suffering through quarterback inconsistencies. This offseason, Carolina scored head coach Frank Reich, quarterback Bryce Young with the No. 1 overall pick, a new running back in Miles Sanders, and some weapons in D.J. Chark, Adam Thielen, Jonathan Mingo and Hayden Hurst.
Carolina also did some solid work on the defensive side of the ball this offseason. Their new-look 3-4 base defense will feature fresh additions in linemen Shy Tuttle and DeShawn Williams as well as one of the best safeties in the league in Vonn Bell.
All of that, along with a new head coach in Frank Reich, could get the Panthers back into contention. Dajani adds:
Reich could end up being the best hire of this cycle, and his introductory press conference showed he has a good pulse on what this team is about — and what it can be in the future. He talked about how the run game is absolutely vital to everyone keeping their jobs, and how Carolina’s underrated defense can serve as the backbone for the team. The Panthers went 7-10 last year despite all of the adversity, plus Carolina has the sixth-easiest schedule based on opponents’ combined 2022 win percentage.
