The Carolina Panthers’ roller-coaster season, on and off the field, came to an end Jan. 7 with a loss to the New Orleans Saints, 31-26 in the Wild Card Round.
The Panthers finished the regular season 11-5 before heading into the Wild Card Round, finishing second in the NFC South and with the five seed in the playoffs.
Carolina’s roller-coaster season began with an injury to tight end Greg Olsen in week two. Olsen broke his foot in the 9-3 win over the Buffalo Bills and would be out for eight weeks after his foot was surgically repaired before returning against the New York Jets. With the injury, Olsen’s thousand-yard reception streak of three years came to an end. Olsen has been referred to as quarterback Cam Newton’s “safety blanket” in the past and forced the Panthers to rely on other aspects of the Carolina offense.
This season Newton threw for 3,302 yards, over 200 yards less than the 2016 season. Newton did throw for three more touchdowns in the 2017 season than the last and led the team in rushing with 754 yards, his longest rush being 69 yards.
The Panthers were 5-3 when they traded wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin to the Buffalo Bills for a third-round and a seventh-round pick in the 2018 draft. The Panthers went 6-2 after the trade.
On Dec. 17, allegations against team owner Jerry Richardson surfaced. According the Sports Illustrated there were many different instances of sexual harassment and racial slurs directed toward an African-American employee. Richardson and the Panthers had set confidential settlements with at least four employees who were paid by Richardson or the team to keep silent about the issues. The Panthers launched an internal investigation and Richardson ended up releasing a letter to the public, saying that he would be putting the Panthers up for new ownership at the end of the NFL season.
In his absence, Tina Becker was named the new Chief Operating Officer. Becker has almost 20 years’ experience with the Panthers, including being a cheerleader and then working her way up to heading day-to-day operations. Becker’s new position makes her one of the highest-ranked female executives in the league.
The changes to the Panthers did not stop there as after the loss to the Saints the Panthers fired offensive coordinator Mike Shula and quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey. To replace them, the Panthers hired Norv Turner as the new offensive coordinator. Turner was taking a break from football after his most recent stint with the Minnesota Vikings as an offensive coordinator.
The Panthers will have the 24th-overall pick in the NFL Draft.
