The Carolina Panthers ended the 2025 season with a lot of positive momentum despite all of the ups and downs the team went through over the course of the 17-game season.

The Panthers still ended the season on top of the NFC South, although they got plenty of help to achieve that, and went on to put up a considerable fight in the NFC Wild Card Round in front of their home fans against the Los Angeles Rams.

In the months since the season ended, general manager Dan Morgan put together another top notch offseason between free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft to continue bolstering this team that hopes to make more noise in the NFC.

However, the path ahead is going to be a lot tougher. In fact, the Panthers’ 2026 season projects to be one of the toughest schedules in the entire league.

Carolina Panthers have the 30th-ranked strength of schedule going into the 2026 season

Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis posted the new strength of schedule projections for all 32 teams for the upcoming NFL season. Sharp’s projections are different than other SOS methods because he doesn’t just based it off 2025 wins and losses. His model creates a consensus betting line that helps project how good a team is expected to be in 2026 instead of basing it off of how teams did last season. You can read more about it here.

With that being said, Sharp’s rankings had the Panthers ranked 30th in the entire league. The only teams with a harder projected strength of schedule in 2026 were the Miami Dolphins and the Arizona Cardinals, two teams in extremely competitive divisions that happen to feature the two teams from this past Super Bowl.

NEW: NFL strength of schedule for 2026!

5 easiest schedules:

1️⃣ Lions
2️⃣ Saints
3️⃣ Bengals
4️⃣ Browns
5️⃣ Jets

5 hardest schedules:

2️⃣8️⃣ Rams
2️⃣9️⃣ Cowboys
3️⃣0️⃣ Panthers
3️⃣1️⃣ Dolphins
3️⃣2️⃣ Cardinals

1-32 with insight & analysis:https://t.co/iS1PFqfcxx

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) May 4, 2026

Sharp’s model also included the projected 2026 Vegas win totals for all 32 teams, which had the Panthers projected to win 6.5 games this upcoming season. Clearly people are expecting some regression in Carolina and the strength of schedule speaks for itself.

It’s worth noting that Vegas’ win total projections had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8.5), Atlanta Falcons (7.5), and New Orleans Saints (7.5) higher than the Panthers with easier strength of schedules. Holding on to the NFC South title won’t be easy.

Carolina fans might not be thrilled to hear this news, but the reality is that this was an 8-win team that already overachieved. It’s hard to sustain success in this league, much less improve. However, the Panthers will be up to the challenge and don’t care about any of these projections.

Trust what Morgan is building. The Panthers have a solid foundation in place and can achieve even more in 2026 if Bryce Young can finally take make that big step.