SPARTANBURG, S.C. — As the Carolina Panthers moved into Wofford College on Tuesday in preparation for training camp, there was one emotion that rode above the rest. It was an unfamiliar feeling for this team, and so it took me a moment to grasp it.
It was happiness.
The Panthers haven’t won a football game for 255 days, when Cam Newton stormed into the end zone against Arizona on the first carry of his briefly triumphant return and screamed, “I’m b-a-a-a-ck!!”
That moment was one of the few times Panthers fans have had anything to cheer about in the past eight months. Carolina limped to seven losses in a row after that victory on Nov. 14, 2021, and finished 5-12. By the end, the losing seemed preordained, and the players were tired of it all and ready to go home.
It didn’t feel that way Tuesday, though, as the Panthers rolled their suitcases into Jerome Johnson Richardson Hall at Wofford. Yes, it’s the 150-bed dorm that former Panther owner Jerry Richardson’s millions paid for, and that still feels weird given how it ended for Richardson and the Panthers. But regardless, the players living in that dorm for the next couple of weeks look like a team on the cusp of an actual winning season — which would be Carolina’s first since 2017.
“I really like the vibe of this team,” Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer said. “There’s a great energy to this group as a whole. I was in a team meeting a second ago, and everybody’s hugging each other — like, genuinely happy to see each other. That’s something that it’s not always there.”
And while every NFL camp brims with optimism this time of year, if you take a clear-eyed view of the Panthers right now, you can tell they are significantly better than the mess of a team that finished 2021.
McCaffrey’s big question
At quarterback, the most important position, the Panthers don’t know who will start Week 1. Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield will fight for the job throughout July and August, and rookie Matt Corral made sure to note Tuesday that he doesn’t consider himself out of the mix, either. That’s a better QB room than the Panthers had last year with a compromised Newton and a shaken Darnold, who started 3-0, lost Christian McCaffrey to injury and got to where he couldn’t make tight throws under pressure.
The revamped offensive line has actual depth after Carolina spent all sorts of money and draft capital on it. And, of course, McCaffrey is healthy again — and how long that lasts will determine a lot of how Carolina does as well.
McCaffrey offered four words when asked what changed this offseason in his regimen as he tries to stay healthy for an entire year after missing 23 of Carolina’s past 33 games.
“Stuff here and there,” he said.
But McCaffrey did cop to having the “bougie-est” room on the team. He lugged a rug to Wofford because he doesn’t like cold dorm floors, and he’s got all sort of workout and recovery stuff in there.
“It looks like half of a treatment room,” he said, “and then half of a Four Seasons room.”
Darnold, Mayfield ‘are cool’
Darnold could have instituted a cold war with Mayfield if he had wanted to. After all, Darnold was poised to be the starter for 2022 after a fine offseason and then Carolina traded for Mayfield earlier this month.
Instead, Darnold invited Mayfield to a throwing session with most of the Panthers’ skill players in Charlotte and said repeatedly Tuesday that he and Mayfield “are cool.”
“I don’t think anyone here likes feeling awkward or being in an awkward situation,” Darnold said. “I think there will be plenty of time for that when training camp starts going and we start actually competing.”
Darnold also poked a little fun at Corral for sweating excessively during his own group interview with the media and in general seemed quite relaxed for a guy who may well lose his job in a few weeks (he did admit it “took a couple of days to decompress” when he heard the news about the Mayfield trade).
Panthers head coach Matt Rhule praised his team’s competitive spirit, thinking out loud about potential drills that could be turned into competitions.
“If I say, ‘Hey, let’s go run 40s,’ they look at me like I’m nuts,” Rhule said. “If I say, ‘Let’s see who the fastest guy is,’ then they run forever.”
Wide receiver DJ Moore said the competition at QB will spill over onto the team. “Shoot, it boosts everybody’s competitiveness, you know?” he said.
The Panthers still need some things. Fitterer is working on acquiring two more veteran defensive linemen — a defensive end (possibly Carlos Dunlap) and a defensive tackle (possibly Danny Shelton). Linebacker seems iffy, too.
But all in all, the Panthers have a chance — at the playoffs, and at happiness.
