Ian Hartitz has the 2025 team preview and fantasy football outlook for the Carolina Panthers.

Year 1 of the Dave Canales experience in Carolina didn't start off too hot. Back-to-back season-opening beatdowns led to Andy Dalton taking over for Bryce Young, who seemingly only got another chance with the starting job after Dalton was involved in a midseason automobile accident.

And then something funny happened: Young began to play the best football of his career, flashing big-time throws and doing everything in his power to put his team in a position to beat contenders like the Chiefs, Bucs, and Eagles.

The season-long numbers admittedly weren't great, but this really was an improved team during the second half of the year.

Carolina Panthers in 2024:

• Points per game: 20.1 (23rd)
• EPA per dropback: -0.04 (26th)
• EPA per rush: -0.04 (11th)
• Points per game against: 31.4 (32nd)

Fast forward to 2025, and Young has a legit No. 1 WR in the form of eighth overall pick Tetairoa McMillan, while the front office also threw some serious dollars at arguably the single-worst defense in the league from a season ago.

This brings us to today's goal: Answering key (mostly fantasy-related) questions about the Panthers ahead of their 2025 season.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

Note: All referenced ADP (in parentheses) is Underdog, via our Fantasy Life ADP Tool. For our full fantasy football rankings as well as early Week 1 rankings, head to our rankings hub.

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How great was Bryce Young's second-half transformation?

• Bryce Young consensus Fantasy Life ranking: QB25

Well, from Week 8 on among 36 qualified QBs…

• PFF pass grade: 83.7 (6th)
• Big-time throw rate: 7.7% (1st!)
• EPA per dropback: +0.11 (18th)
• CPOE: +2.8% (15th)
• Yards per attempt: 6.6 (28th)
• Fantasy points per game: 18.9 (QB13)

Those initial two data points allow Bryce truthers to paint a truly promising picture and comp group for the 2023 NFL Draft's No. 1 overall pick. Just take a look at that company in the upper right-hand corner!

Of course, the more traditional efficiency stats demonstrate the reality that it still wasn't all roses for Young down the stretch, and we can't completely ignore his first 18 rather atrocious career starts.

I'm also a little skeptical Young's late-season fantasy goodness is overly repeatable considering how much of his production came on the ground. Consider: Young scored the second-most fantasy points from strictly rushing production in Weeks 13-18 thanks in large part to five rushing TDs—both marks more than any QB not named Josh Allen.

The optimistic case for Young would revolve around more improvements during his second year in Canales' system along with the potential for some of the team's young pass-game options to grow up during their second season. The newfound presence of first-rounder Tetairoa McMillan should also help matters when it comes to this offense's ability to make life just a bit easier for their hopeful franchise QB.

Worst average teamwide WR and TE "Open Scores" in 2024:

• 28: Cowboys (49.8)
• 29: Bills (49.7)
• 30: Patriots (44.5)
• 31: Raiders (42.8)
• 32: Panthers (38.3)

Bryce Young 2025 Fantasy Football Outlook

I'm higher on Young than any other Fantasy Life ranker … and he comes in as my QB22. We are talking about the QB29 in fantasy points per game among 33 QBs with at least 16 starts over the past two seasons after all. Look for the rising third-year talent to enjoy his best NFL season yet, but that still might not be enough to produce more than low-end QB2 value in fantasy land.

Does Chuba Hubbard have RB1 upside?

• Chuba Hubbard consensus Fantasy Life ranking: RB16
• Rico Dowdle: RB51

Hubbard managed to rack up 1,135 total yards and 5 TDs in 2023 on his way to yanking the starting job away from high-priced free agent addition Miles Sanders. Thus, the former fourth-round pick didn't exactly enter 2024 as a mystery man, but expectations also weren't sky high after the Panthers took the first RB of the draft in Jonathon Brooks.

Unfortunately, Brooks' extended recovery timeline and ensuing re-torn ACL prevented him from making any noise as a rookie. This gave Hubbard the opportunity to run away with the starting job—and the fourth-year back didn't disappoint.

Overall, Hubbard's average of 79.7 rush yards per game ranked seventh among all RBs, and his +1.16 rush yards over expected per carry trailed only Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, and Jordan Mason. Pretty, pretty, pretty good company—and accordingly the Panthers made their starting RB of the present and the future a rich man at the end of 2024.

That said: There is some newfound competition in the form of ex-Cowboys RB Rico Dowdle, who the Panthers signed to a one-year, $2.75 million deal worth up to $6 million in a best-case scenario. Dowdle deserves credit for largely making the most out of his opportunities last season, when he led the entire NFL in percentage of carries to gain at least three yards after contact (51%) in 2024!

Panthers GM Dan Morgan called Hubbard and Rico “kind of a 1-2 punch,” while Canales spoke of the advantages of having two guys with the same type of style and dubbed both backs as "war daddies." A more split backfield certainly wouldn't be ideal for Hubbard, who posted the position's fourth-best Utilization Score last season behind only Alvin Kamara, Bijan Robinson, and Saquon Barkley.

Chuba Hubbard 2025 Fantasy Football Outlook

The Panthers didn't exactly hand Dowdle the sort of money to guarantee a big-time role, but then again Hubbard's ascension over Miles Sanders in the first place adds credence to the idea that Canales and Co. might care less than most about that sort of thing.

Ultimately, Hubbard comes in as my RB16 (highest among Fantasy Life rankers) just behind more sure things like Alvin Kamara and James Cook, but ahead of guys breaking in new offenses like Breece Hall and Kenneth Walker. Dowdle is more of a handcuff with hopeful FLEX upside in the same sort of RB4-5 tier with guys like Roschon Johnson, Isaac Guerendo, and Jordan Mason.

How early is too early to draft Tetairoa McMillan?

• Tetairoa McMillan consensus Fantasy Life ranking: WR23
• Adam Thielen: WR65
• Xavier Legette: WR67
• Jalen Coker: WR78

Early Fantasy Life Projections have this WR room being divided in the following manner:

• Tetairoa McMillan (123 targets)
• Xavier Legette (80)
• Adam Thielen (69)
• Jalen Coker (45)

Expectations are immediately sky high for the artist known as T-Mac, and, hey, that's what happens when you come off the board as the eighth overall pick. But yeah: Current Underdog Drafts have McMillan carrying an ADP as the WR22 and inside the top-40 overall picks.

While there's a lot to love about the Panthers' gargantuan-sized 22-year-old talent, simply earning top-10 draft capital hasn't always led to great Year 1 fantasy results.

And yet, McMillan might be the sort of prospect worth betting on having an outlier campaign. After all, his 92 Super Model Rating is tied for the sixth-highest mark since 2018, and Fantasy Life Draft Expert Thor Nystrom has comped him to Drake London while noting, "McMillan is one of the most imposing physical specimens at the wide receiver position coming into the 2025 NFL Draft. The University of Arizona product is a blend of size, speed, and talent all rolled into one."

There's also Legette, whose NFL debut was more so defined by his quirky interviews and Sheesh of the Year drop than on-field accomplishments. The counting numbers largely speak for themselves (49 receptions, 497 yards, 4 TD), but the underlying efficiency metrics were REALLY rough even relative to past rookies.

Legette among 96 rookie WRs with 50+ targets since 2015:

• Yards per route run: 1.19 (81st)
• Targets per route run: 20.1% (50th)
• Passer rating when targeted: 86.3 (60th)

Not helping matters was the reality that Legette was straight up outplayed by the 34-year-old Thielen as well as teammate Jalen Coker, who is awesome and everything, but yeah, it's not ideal when an undrafted free agent is looking quite a bit better than the team's first-rounder.

Tetairoa McMillan 2025 Fantasy Football Outlook

I had McMillan ranked WR20 before putting together the above top-10 list … and f*ck it, we're staying strong. Most players in that range have one red flag or another; T-Mac's potential to have one of the league's largest target shares on a team that figures to (again) see plenty of comeback action makes him someone I'm willing to bet on ahead of 2025.

That said: I struggle to get behind pretty much anyone else in this passing game. Expecting too many fireworks here feels like wishful thinking, and there's potential for more of a rotation than usual between Thielen, Legette, and Coker considering the age of the former veteran (35 in August) and vastly differing performance between the latter two rookies. I'd be most willing to throw a late-round dart at Thielen, but rolling with higher best-case-scenario upside handcuff RBs in that range of the draft is usually preferred.

Does Ja'Tavion Sanders deserve late-round consideration?

• Ja'Tavion Sanders consensus Fantasy Life ranking: TE30

He certainly seems to be in line to have a chance to lead this offense, as Tommy Tremble (back surgery) isn't expected to return to action until sometime in the preseason.

The Panthers' 2024 fourth-round pick was considered by many to be the TE2 in that class, and he proved two things as a rookie:

• There's some legit pass-game ability here, as Sanders has the sort of frame (6-foot-4, 245 pounds) to make plays in contested-catch situations and enough straight-line speed (4.69 40) to be a problem with the football in his hands.
• The Panthers are willing to play him as a full-time player, as he cleared 80% of the offense's snaps on two occasions and had four more games north of 70%.

That said: Tremble isn't exactly guaranteed to miss any actual regular-season action, and he limited Sanders to a meh 56% route rate during the final five weeks of last year. Throw in the decision to draft all-around Notre Dame TE Mitchell Evans in Round 5, and it feels like a leap of faith to overly expect Sanders to have meaningful target volume inside an offense that *checks notes* finished 26th in total pass-game opportunities to the position in 2024.

Bottom line: Feel free to add Sanders as a LATE-round stack addition to teams with T-Mac and Bryce, but otherwise I prefer throwing darts at guys like Mike Gesicki and Cade Otton at just a slightly more expensive cost thanks to their far-superior offensive environments.

Are some offensive linemen much better at run blocking than pass blocking?

Funny you should ask! And apparently, yes!

Now, RB rush yards before contact and average time to pressure allowed aren't the be-all, end-all stats for summarizing a team's run and pass-blocking ability—mobile QBs also help matters quite a bit in the former statistic—but either way it's clear the Panthers weren't exactly a dominant group last season.

That said: Injuries were a major early-season issue and caused all starters to miss at least one game. PFF recognized this and graded them as the eighth-best unit after last season; here's to hoping rare continuity of bringing back all five starters leads to big-time season-long results with a bit better help from the injury gods in 2025. 

Prediction for the Panthers 2025 Season

Vegas isn't exactly expecting the world's biggest comeback in Carolina this season, as their 6.5 win total is right there with the Raiders as a bottom-seven mark in the league.

But you know what? Give me the over! There was enough money thrown at problems during free agency to believe the defense could be improved, and there are signs of good things going on with Young and Co. as well. I wouldn't say an NFC South championship is on the horizon, but approaching eight wins feels reasonable and would still be a nice improvement.

My bold fantasy prediction: T-Mac joins Malik Nabers, Ja'Marr Chase, and Julio Jones as the only top-10 picks to return WR1 production as rookies since 2010.

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