Hello CSR! Welcome to Brian Answers, part two of your weekly Panthers fan mailbag for everyone! This week was a lot more fun, since we weren’t lamenting another tough Panthers loss. Now, the Panthers face a big test against the Cowboys this week as we being to unwrap what exactly this iteration of the Panthers truly is. Let’s dive in to your questions!
Coach_K: Since the Jags beat us in the home opener, did they steal our Super Bowl or are we still winning it all?
I like this attitude! The Jaguars have been one of the biggest surprises of the 2025 NFL season, so I definitely feel a bit different after that loss 5 weeks and 4 games later. We still don’t know what this version of the Panthers will end up looking like, but starting the season off against the Jaguars and ending it against the Jaguars in the Super Bowl would be pretty cool!!
Jesse_Pinkman: Who on the Jets, Raiders or Bengals should the Panthers try a trade for? I would like to see Quinnen Williams with Derrick Brown. That would be a nasty duo up front. Garrett Wilson would be great as well. From the Raiders Jakobi Meyers would be nice too.
I don’t know if the Panthers should be in the market to trade for players at the trade deadline, I guess I would feel differently if the Panthers were 4-1 or 3-2, but as I stated above, I don’t really know how to feel about this iteration of the Panthers. They are so volatile from week to week, even quarter to quarter, that I don’t know if trading any premium draft assets makes a lot of sense. Quinnen Williams and Garrett Wilson would both immediately add value to this team, both will also not be cheap. Williams carries a pretty heavy cap hit for the final two years of his contract and would likely need a new contract to make sense and to give him more guaranteed money. Wilson on the other hand just signed a new contract, so not as big of a question.
I think overall the Panthers should be looking for opportunities to trade for less of the high end names, maybe more of the guys with question marks and upside, or veterans that could stabilize some things (inside linebacker, DL/OL depth, etc). I don’t expect a move any time soon, but closer to the deadline I’m sure we’ll see some rumors of who could be on the trade block.
KeepPounding88: Let’s say by the end of the season our front office determines that Bryce is not the guy. Do you think they get desperate and just draft the best QB available at wherever we pick in the 1st, or will we be patient and potentially sign a vet/draft someone in the later rounds?
This is kind of hard to say at 2-3 on the season, especially since the last two draft classes seem wildly different as far as hits and misses two years in with Dave Canales as the head coach. I think in this hypothetical scenario where Bryce Young is determined not to be “the guy” early into the off-season, they likely sign a veteran QB of some sort for competition, and then see where the draft falls since QBs tend to go all over the place in the first round. The Giants Offseason moves at QB might be the thing you look for, as they brought in Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston as experienced starters and then took a shot on Jaxson Dart, and didn’t play him right away. Ask me again once we have a better idea of how the season is going to end.
Revshawn: With the emergence of Rico Dowdle and XL getting his stone hands cured by dark magic, I fear that the Panthers are lost to the Gamecocks for good. And that’s before we even get to Jaycee Horn. Is there any hope for my Panthers getting right with God? Or are we going to languish in sin and lose our souls to the South Carolina Devils and their blood red jersies?
They already signed former Clemson Tiger Hunter Renfrow TWICE this season, Rev. What more do you want?
CG5: Panthers fan from Dallas here. I was watching the Jags take on the Chiefs last night and it was great to see Jacksonville still fully committed to Lawrence. He’s battled through his ups and downs, but now that their defense is clicking, they look poised to make a serious run in his 5th year. It makes me wonder if the Panthers see that and still have full confidence in Bryce. Should they stay the course with BY9, give him time to build chemistry with this receiver group, and allow the defense to grow before making any big moves at quarterback? Personally, I think they should commit to him through the 2025 and 2026 while continuing to build depth on both sides of the ball through trades, free agency, and the draft.
This is an interesting parallel to draw, and I do think the path to go is at least to let Bryce Young play out his rookie contract, though a decision is going to have to be made in the off-season on his 5th year option. With how volatile Bryce Young’s play has been this season, I don’t know if we’ll be discussing a contract extension in the 2026 offseason like the Jags ended up doing with Lawrence following his 3rd season as a pro.
I don’t think they necessarily have to fully commit to Bryce Young, they can probably bring in a decent veteran or a cast off with upside without shaking things up too badly. I do agree that trying to build the overall roster regardless of who is at QB does make a lot of sense.
egon petri: Serious question (for once): What changed with the run D this past week? Was this an aberration, or has Evero actually come up with a solution to this glaring problem we’ve had for a few years now?
I think the rushing defense has taken some steps forward this season even prior to the Dolphins game, its just hard to keep things under control in games where the offense is struggling consistently. Luckily, the Panthers offense started doing things early enough against the Dolphins that the game wasn’t out of reach despite being down 17-0, whereas compared to the Cardinals game, the Panthers didn’t find life until the final quarter of the game. Evero’s been working in some stunts and looks on defense to help out the personnel, and having Derrick Brown in the middle is certainly helping everyone around him. I’d say the biggest change was that the inside linebackers weren’t a massive weakness on Sunday, too. That may have been a result of changing up the roles between Trevin Wallace and Christian Rozeboom, and giving Wallace the green dot as the communicator for the first time this season.
MikeJB: Do Brenton Bersin and/or Colin Jones know about you and Nick Scott?
They all know they have their own, special place in my heart, just for them.
CamelRingMaster: :Rico had a heckuva game but why does Rico have to ask to run a “inside zone” play? Afterwards he said we don’t use those plays in Carolina. Great story about him asking Idzick to call that type of play but why not implement plays that suit a runners skillset?
I went ahead and linked your whole comment if anybody wants to go see the other questions he asked too, but I think I can lump my answer into one very simple thing; this coaching staff is still learning too. The inside zone run was apparently a new wrinkle they introduced to start the 2nd half last week, and clearly it worked. Remember, this entire offensive coaching staff are still learning on the job, and learning what works for their quarterback too. Coaching staffs also don’t tend to show all the tricks in their basket right away, and they have to develop them throughout the season based on their matchup and personnel available week to week. Hopefully, this is a sign that the offense is continuing to evolve and round itself out.
dayneb12: Assuming Rico wants to stay next year what do you think is the better move for next season:
Run it back with Chuba and Rico
Let Rico walk and focus on developing Jonathan Brooks
I don’t know if Carolina knows the answer to that right now either. Currently, they have Rico Dowdle on a very affordable one year deal, I assume if he trends in the positive again and returns another 1k yards rushing or pretty close, he’s going to want some guarantees and security. If they can get him back on another one year deal, sure, sign me up. But with the money they committed to Chuba Hubbard, and the recent draft pick on Trevor Etienne playing well on Sunday, plus a (hopefully) returning Jonathan Brooks might make them think twice about committing too much cap resources to someone else at the position.
GermanPanther89: Are the Panthers not as bad as we think they are?
I think many teams are asking themselves this question as the last few weeks have been very hard to predict across the NFL. Heck, the New York Giants just beat the reigning Super Bowl champs pretty decisively on Thursday Night Football, when only a few short weeks ago the media was talking about Brian Daboll being fired. This is why I earlier said I really don’t have a gauge on what this season looks like for the Panthers. This game against Dallas should tell us a lot more, as their offense has been white hot while their defense has been very beatable. This should tell us quite a bit about both the Panthers offense and defense as it relates to the rest of the season.
ericbuck: Does Hunter Renfrow get demoted back to the PSquad when Coker and David Moore are back? I have not been impressed with him so far this season
Tough to say. When the Panthers re-signed Renfrow following the Adam Thielen trade, they gave him two thirds of his contract fully guaranteed. If they move him back to the practice squad, I believe that money is still owed to him regardless of what else happens, since they’d have to release him before adding him there (if I understand that correctly, the rules are a little different with vested veterans like Renfrow). With the way injuries have piled up, they may not have to make that decision.
Chef: XL had some nice plays vs MIA, looked very engaged. Is it ok (crazy/insane) to expect a similar effort or is a regression more likely come Sunday?
It very much seemed like Xavier Legette’s struggles were mostly mental throughout the first few weeks of the season, I think some positive plays were a good indication his head’s back in the right place. He certainly provides value as a down field threat, but a lot of that will just depend on if the Panthers passing offense is firing on all cylinders or if the timing is off like it had been a lot to start the season. Not crazy at all to think a similar effort is coming and to think positive!
kevinjalltheway: Should Rico have kept his feelings quiet about playing his former team? I think so. He just gave them bulletin board material and seems to have touched a nerve. We don’t need teams hyped to play us…
I don’t think this storyline is going to matter a ton. The Cowboys are going to run the ball a lot one way or the other on Sunday, and players in Dowdle’s position get asked those questions all the time by the media. I don’t feel he did anything outside the norm.
SnarkyComet: Jalen Coker still going to hit 1,000 yards this season?
I think its going to be a bit harder now that we’ve seen the offense really spreading the ball around on their good days. I’m just excited to see him play again!
ericbuck: How will you feel when Jonathon Mingo finally scores a touchdown in Bank of America stadium?
Jonathon Mingo and Miles Sanders scoring on Sunday, fire up the pain.
