Welcome to the Panthers Pulse!
Football is the most popular sport in the United States of America. It’s my favorite sport and the Carolina Panthers are the team I’ve followed since their inception in 1995.
Although NFL popularity is at all-time highs, the discussion discourse surrounding the sport is questionable at best in today’s content slop shop.
It’s easy to fire off general hot takes on social media (guilty as charged here) and say whatever you want on the local radio station.
I’ve written about sports in the city - mainly the Charlotte 49ers - and tried to be encompassing of all sports in Charlotte with Sideline Slant.
However, most of the articles I wrote centered around the Panthers.
I’ve observed the landscape over the last few years and it’s always changing. I decided it was best to focus solely on the Carolina Panthers.
The name “Panthers Pulse” allows me to focus on what the team is doing in present time. However, there will be content with Panthers from the past to capture the pulse of those eras.
My goal with Panthers Pulse is to give measured discourse on the team. I want to talk to the people that have made the Panthers what they are and what they will be in the future.
Anybody can sit behind a keyboard and type their thoughts. However, talking football with others is how the best stories come to be. I’m going to make an effort to talk to smart people that can help capture the pulse of the organization.
That means everything I write might not be popular. This is the NFL after all. The sterile and controlled press conference environment pales in comparison to the cutthroat business behind the scenes. I’ll call it like I see it.
Things have been mostly rough since 2018 for the Panthers and their fans. Franchise cornerstones such as Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly and Greg Olsen were released or retired. New ownership inspired confidence lows only rivaled by Daniel Snyder. There were bad coaching hires. There was also being the worst team in the league and not having the No. 1 pick in loaded draft.
Even with all the bad, the team has kept pounding and has started to crawl out of the ashes. Although they still haven’t had a winning record since 2017, the Panthers won the 2025 NFC South and hosted their first playoff game in a decade. They didn’t win that game but the atmosphere was electric and they were competitive.
While many remain skeptical, optimism has increased.
We’ll see if the Panthers can continue to improve in 2026. It’s possible they regress. The NFL is a year-to-year league.
No matter what, Panthers Pulse will be here to document it all.
