22. Carolina Panthers
You can never just fix an entire roster in one offseason, so I can’t be too hard on the Carolina Panthers here. I also can’t fault them for investing in the talent around Bryce Young. That’s always essential when you have a young quarterback. Getting Tetairoa McMillan is huge for Young after the year we saw from him in 2024, which I’ve been considering a breakout year. And the Panthers clearly agree.
The only issue with this team is that they have been really struggling to add pieces to the defensive side of the ball. They missed out on their top free agent target with Milton Williams on the defensive line, and pivoted to a number of other guys. We’ll see how that works out for them. They also pivoted in the NFL Draft without Abdul Carter falling to their pick slot, taking McMillan and moving up to get guys like Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen.
They took more of a “Moneyball” approach defensively and that didn’t work last year. Is it going to work this year?
21. Pittsburgh Steelers
The trade to acquire wide receiver DK Metcalf is really doing a lot of heavy lifting here. I’m fascinated to see how the duo of Metcalf and George Pickens can actually work together. Mason Rudolph has to be thinking he’s hit the jackpot at this point.
I’m still thinking we’re going to see the Steelers and either Kirk Cousins or Aaron Rodgers, but they don’t seem overly worried about either of those things happening. There’s a lot to like about this Pittsburgh roster, obviously, but the quarterback position being addressed – even with a short-term fix – would vault this team into the upper echelon of offseasons this year.