2021 Carolina Panthers season

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2021 Carolina Panthers season
OwnerDavid Tepper
General managerScott Fitterer
Head coachMatt Rhule
Home fieldBank of America Stadium
Results
Record5–12
Division place4th NFC South
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersDE Brian Burns
CB Stephon Gilmore
Uniform

The 2021 season was the Carolina Panthers' 27th in the National Football League (NFL), their first under general manager Scott Fitterer, as well as the second and final full season under head coach Matt Rhule.

The team began the season by winning their first three games before losing the next four. With a Week 10 win against the Arizona Cardinals, they matched their five-win total from each of the two previous seasons. However, the Panthers fell into a seven-game losing streak and failed to improve on their 5–11 record from the previous two seasons.[1] After a Week 16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Panthers were eliminated from playoff contention for a fourth consecutive season.[2] Ahead of Week 10, quarterback Cam Newton returned to the franchise after a one-year absence following an injury to starter Sam Darnold.[3]

Draft

Third-round draft picks Brady Christensen (left) and Tommy Tremble
2021 Carolina Panthers Draft
Round Selection Player Position College
1 8 Jaycee Horn CB South Carolina
2 59 Terrace Marshall Jr. WR LSU
3 70 Brady Christensen OT BYU
83 Tommy Tremble TE Notre Dame
4 126 Chuba Hubbard RB Oklahoma State
5 158 Daviyon Nixon DT Iowa
166 Keith Taylor CB Washington
6 193 Deonte Brown OG Alabama
204 Shi Smith WR South Carolina
222 Thomas Fletcher LS Alabama
7 232 Phil Hoskins DT Kentucky

Draft trades

  • Carolina traded their second- and fifth-round selection (39th and 151st overall) to Chicago in exchange for second-, third-, and sixth-round selections (52nd, 83rd, and 204th overall)
  • Carolina traded their second- and fourth-round selections (52nd and 113th overall) to Cleveland in exchange for second- and third-round selections (59th and 89th overall).
  • Carolina traded their third- and sixth-round selections (73rd and 191st overall) to Philadelphia for a third-round selection (70th overall)
  • Carolina traded a third-round selection (89th overall) to Houston in exchange for fourth- and fifth-round selections (109th and 158th overall) and a 2022 fourth-round selection.
  • Carolina traded a fourth-round selection (109th overall) to Tennessee in exchange for fourth-, fifth-, and seventh-round selections (126th, 166th, and 232nd overall).
  • Carolina traded quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to Denver for their sixth-round selection (191st overall)
  • Carolina traded a sixth-round selection (226th overall), 2022 second- and fourth-round selections to the New York Jets in exchange for quarterback Sam Darnold

Staff

2021 Carolina Panthers staff

Front office

  • Owner – David Tepper
  • General manager – Scott Fitterer
  • Assistant general manager – Dan Morgan
  • Vice president of football operations & senior advisor to ownership – Steven Drummond
  • Vice president of player personnel – Pat Stewart
  • Senior personnel executive – Jeff Morrow
  • Director of football operations – Mike Anderson
  • Director of pro personnel – Matt Allen
  • Director of college scouting – Cole Spencer
  • Director of football analytics – Taylor Rajack

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Coaching assistants

  • Assistant to the head coach – Matthew Delgado
  • Coaching assistant – EJ Barthel
  • Coaching assistant – Garret McGuire
  • Coaching assistant – Grant Udinski
  • Coaching assistant – Cedric Whitaker

Strength and conditioning

  • Head athletic trainer – Kevin King
  • Strength and conditioning – Jeremy Scott
  • Assistant strength and conditioning – Thomas Barbeau

Final roster

The Panthers offense, including quarterback Cam Newton (1), running back Christian McCaffrey (22), and linemen John Miller (67) and Pat Elflein (60), during the Week 11 game against the Washington Football Team
2021 Carolina Panthers final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists


Practice squad


Rookies in italics
50 active, 15 inactive, 15 practice squad (+1 exempt)

Preseason

Week Date Time (ET) Opponent Result Record Venue Recap
1 August 15 1:00 p.m. at Indianapolis Colts L 18–21 0–1 Lucas Oil Stadium Recap
2 August 21 7:00 p.m. Baltimore Ravens L 3–20 0–2 Bank of America Stadium Recap
3 August 27 7:00 p.m. Pittsburgh Steelers W 34–9 1–2 Bank of America Stadium Recap

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap
1 September 12 New York Jets W 19–14 1–0 Bank of America Stadium Recap
2 September 19 New Orleans Saints W 26–7 2–0 Bank of America Stadium Recap
3 September 23 at Houston Texans W 24–9 3–0 NRG Stadium Recap
4 October 3 at Dallas Cowboys L 28–36 3–1 AT&T Stadium Recap
5 October 10 Philadelphia Eagles L 18–21 3–2 Bank of America Stadium Recap
6 October 17 Minnesota Vikings L 28–34 (OT) 3–3 Bank of America Stadium Recap
7 October 24 at New York Giants L 3–25 3–4 MetLife Stadium Recap
8 October 31 at Atlanta Falcons W 19–13 4–4 Mercedes-Benz Stadium Recap
9 November 7 New England Patriots L 6–24 4–5 Bank of America Stadium Recap
10 November 14 at Arizona Cardinals W 34–10 5–5 State Farm Stadium Recap
11 November 21 Washington Football Team L 21–27 5–6 Bank of America Stadium Recap
12 November 28 at Miami Dolphins L 10–33 5–7 Hard Rock Stadium Recap
13 Bye
14 December 12 Atlanta Falcons L 21–29 5–8 Bank of America Stadium Recap
15 December 19 at Buffalo Bills L 14–31 5–9 Highmark Stadium Recap
16 December 26 Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 6–32 5–10 Bank of America Stadium Recap
17 January 2 at New Orleans Saints L 10–18 5–11 Caesars Superdome Recap
18 January 9 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 17–41 5–12 Raymond James Stadium Recap

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. New York Jets

Week 1: New York Jets at Carolina Panthers – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Jets 0 0 8614
Panthers 0 16 0319

at Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina

Game information

In the Panthers' home and season opener against the New York Jets, quarterback

Robby Anderson faced their former team for the first time. Neither team scored in the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, as the Panthers attempted to convert on fourth down in the red zone, the football slipped out of Darnold's hands before he could hand it off to Christian McCaffrey, and the loose ball was recovered by the Jets' Sheldon Rankins. On the next drive, the Jets' rookie quarterback Zach Wilson tried to pass to Ryan Griffin but was intercepted by Shaq Thompson. From the turnover, Ryan Santoso kicked a 22-yard field goal for the Panthers. In the last five minutes of the first half, Carolina scored two touchdowns. Immediately after a Jets turnover on downs, Darnold found Anderson with a long pass for the first touchdown, but Santoso missed the extra point conversion wide left. Darnold then capped off the next Panthers drive by scoring on a five-yard run, and they went into halftime with a 16–0 lead. Late in the third quarter, the Jets finally scored when Wilson completed a touchdown pass to Corey Davis. Wilson then ran in on the ensuing two-point conversion to reduce the Panthers' lead to one score, but in the fourth quarter, Santoso converted a second field goal, increasing the Panthers' lead to 19–8. Right after the two-minute warning, Wilson connected with Davis again for a second touchdown, but his pass to Elijah Moore on the two-point conversion was deflected and fell short. With Jets kicker Matt Ammendola's onside kick
going out of bounds, the Panthers retained possession for the remainder of the game and won 19–14 to begin the season at 1–0.

Week 2: vs. New Orleans Saints

Game information

In the first quarter, the Panthers opened the scoring when

Deonte Harris, but the pass fell short and was intercepted by Juston Burris. With the interception, the Panthers completed their first-half shutout of the Saints and went into halftime with a 17–0 lead. The third quarter was scoreless; the Panthers came closest to scoring, but a 50-yard field goal attempt from Gonzalez was blocked by Carl Granderson and recovered by the Saints' Zack Baun. With less than two minutes to go in the third quarter, as P. J. Williams about to sack him, Darnold attempted a shovel pass that fell to Malcolm Roach for an interception, the only Panthers turnover of the game. The Saints capitalized on the mistake, as Jameis Winston capped off the ensuing drive early in the fourth quarter with an eight-yard run for the Saints' only touchdown of the game. The Panthers once again increased their lead with an 11-yard touchdown run from Christian McCaffrey. Gonzalez missed the extra point conversion wide left but converted a 42-yard field goal following a Saints turnover on downs. In the final minutes of the game, Winston once again scrambled to avoid getting sacked before throwing a long pass downfield; his overthrown pass intended for Juwan Johnson resulted in his second interception of the game, this time at the hands of rookie Jaycee Horn
. The Panthers' 26–7 victory improved their record to 2–0.

Week 3: at Houston Texans

Game information

A five-yard touchdown run from Sam Darnold in the first quarter gave the Panthers the early lead. Just before halftime, Davis Mills found Anthony Miller with a short pass for a Texans touchdown, but former Panthers kicker Joey Slye missed the extra point conversion wide right, preventing the Texans from drawing level. In the third quarter, the Panthers extended their lead, as Tommy Tremble scored a touchdown off of an end-around run. In doing so, Tremble became the youngest tight end to score a rushing touchdown in NFL history; the last tight end to score a rushing touchdown at age 22 or younger was Rob Gronkowski, who did so for the New England Patriots in Week 13 of the 2011 season against the Indianapolis Colts.[4] With a one-score game heading into the fourth quarter, the teams traded field goals before the Panthers secured the win with a quarterback sneak from Darnold for his second rushing touchdown of the game. With the 24–9 win, the Panthers began the season with three consecutive wins for the first time since the 2015 season.

Week 4: at Dallas Cowboys

Week 4: Carolina Panthers at Dallas Cowboys – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Panthers 7 7 01428
Cowboys 7 6 20336

at AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas

Game information

Both teams scored one-yard rushing touchdowns in the first quarter, with

Greg Zuerlein, increasing their lead further to 36–14. The Panthers countered with a pair of touchdowns from Darnold to D. J. Moore to reduce the deficit to eight points, but the Cowboys retained possession for the rest of the game and won 36–28. The loss was the Panthers' first of the season, and it left the Arizona Cardinals and the Las Vegas Raiders
as the only remaining undefeated teams, though the Raiders would lose as well the following day.

Week 5: vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Game information

After the 1–3 Eagles went

Robby Anderson
. With the Eagles closing out the game, the Panthers lost 21–18, their second loss in a row after starting the season with three wins.

Week 6: vs. Minnesota Vikings

Week 6: Minnesota Vikings at Carolina Panthers – Game summary
Period 1 2 34OTTotal
Vikings 6 6 133634
Panthers 7 3 711028

at Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina

Game information

On the game's first play from scrimmage,

Robby Anderson to intercept Sam Darnold, from which the Vikings scored with Greg Joseph converting a 25-yard field goal. After Kirk Cousins passed to Justin Jefferson, A. J. Bouye forced a fumble, which was recovered and advanced by Haason Reddick. From the turnover, Shi Smith ran 16 yards on the shovel pass from Sam Darnold before Chuba Hubbard scored a rushing touchdown. Joseph added another 25-yard field goal to close the deficit to one point before the Vikings regained the lead early in the second quarter with a touchdown pass from Cousins to Chris Herndon. The Vikings were unsuccessful on the two-point conversion, as Bouye tripped up Dalvin Cook before the latter could reach the goal line. The Panthers added a field goal from Zane Gonzalez later in the quarter, and the score was 12–10 in favor of the Vikings at halftime. On the second Vikings drive of the third quarter, Frankie Luvu ran through the middle of the punt formation and blocked a Jordan Berry punt, which was recovered by Kenny Robinson and returned for a Panthers touchdown. The Vikings then countered with touchdowns on consecutive possessions. First, Cook scored on a 16-yard run after the initial ruling that he was down at the one-yard line was overturned; the two-point conversion was once again unsuccessful, as Jefferson was unable to stay inbounds to catch a pass from Cousins. On the next Panthers play from scrimmage, D. J. Moore received a pass from Darnold and was tackled by Xavier Woods, who stripped away the football, which was subsequently recovered by Eric Kendricks. The Vikings once again capitalized on the Panthers turnover, with Cousins passing to Adam Thielen for a touchdown. Following a third Vikings field goal, Darnold lost the ball while being sacked by Armon Watts and Everson Griffen, and the loose ball was recovered by Dalvin Tomlinson, but the Vikings were unable to convert this turnover into points. After converting three field goals already, Joseph missed a 50-yard attempt wide right before Gonzalez converted a 23-yard field goal to narrow the deficit to eight points. After a Berry punt was downed at the four-yard line, Darnold recorded three straight incompletions before converting on fourth down with a 41-yard pass to Ian Thomas. The Panthers, having driven almost the entire length of the field in under 90 seconds, completed the drive with Darnold's first touchdown of the game on a seven-yard pass to Anderson. Tommy Tremble then converted the two-point conversion with a shovel pass from Darnold to tie the game at 28–28. Despite there only being 42 seconds left in the game, the Vikings advanced the ball to within field goal range, but Joseph missed wide right once again from 47 yards out on what could have been the game-winning field goal. In overtime, the Vikings won the coin toss and elected to receive; on their first possession, K. J. Osborn scored on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Cousins to win the game. This was the Panthers' third consecutive loss after winning their first three games of the season, and they remained winless after key players Christian McCaffrey and Jaycee Horn both picked up injuries during the Week 3 game
against the Houston Texans.

Week 7: at New York Giants

Week 7: Carolina Panthers at New York Giants – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Panthers 3 0 003
Giants 0 5 71325

at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey

Game information

On the Panthers' opening drive, Zane Gonzalez kicked a 45-yard field goal, which went in off the left upright, to give the Panthers the early lead and their only points of the game. After the Giants were unable to convert on fourth-and-goal from the two-yard line, the Panthers received the ball. After having only advanced the ball one yard in total on the first two downs, the Panthers faced third-and-nine to begin the second quarter. In the face of the Giants' oncoming blitz, Sam Darnold threw the ball away, but because the throw did not pass the line of scrimmage and was not in the vicinity of any eligible receivers, Darnold was penalized for intentional grounding, which resulted in a Giants safety given the field position. On the ensuing drive, former Panthers kicker Graham Gano converted a 49-yard field goal to give the Giants a 5–3 lead. Later in the quarter, after Darnold completed five passes consecutively on the same drive, his pass intended for Ian Thomas was intercepted by former Panther James Bradberry in the red zone. The Giants were unable to capitalize on the turnover but retained a two-point lead at halftime. Towards the end of the third quarter, Dante Pettis completed a 16-yard pass to Jones on a trick play, with the same drive culminating with a five-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Pettis. After a run of poor performances, Panthers head coach Matt Rhule benched Darnold, with P. J. Walker taking over at quarterback for the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the Giants continued to extend their lead, with Gano adding two more field goals. A pair of Panthers turnovers on downs late in the fourth quarter sandwiched Devontae Booker's rushing touchdown to cap off the 25–3 loss, the Panthers' fourth in a row.

Week 8: at Atlanta Falcons

Week 8: Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Panthers 3 6 3719
Falcons 3 7 0313

at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia

  • Date: October 31
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
  • Game weather: Cloudy, 58 °F (14 °C) (retractable roof open)
  • Game attendance: 68,583
  • Referee:
    Laura Okmin
  • Recap, Game Book
Game information

On the opening play from scrimmage,

Robby Anderson. With the 19–13 victory, the Panthers stopped their four-game losing streak and improved to 4–4. Meanwhile, Gonzalez's four successful field goals resulted in him winning his first NFC Special Teams Player of the Week award.[10]

Week 9: vs. New England Patriots

Game information

Both teams entered the game with identical 4–4 records. In the last minute of the first quarter,

Robby Anderson. After the Panthers drove into the red zone early in the fourth quarter, Darnold was once again intercepted by Jackson, who was covering D. J. Moore in the end zone. From these turnovers, Nick Folk
added to the Patriots' lead with a 37-yard field goal after Collins's interception but missed a 54-yard attempt wide right after Jackson's second interception. The 24–6 loss dropped the Panthers to 4–5.

Week 10: at Arizona Cardinals

Week 10: Carolina Panthers at Arizona Cardinals – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Panthers 17 6 8334
Cardinals 0 0 3710

at State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona

  • Date: November 14
  • Game time: 4:05 p.m. EST/2:05 p.m. MST
  • Game weather: None (retractable roof closed)
  • Game attendance: 62,400
  • Referee: Adrian Hill
  • TV announcers (Fox): Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, and Sara Walsh
  • Recap, Game Book
Game information

In his first game back after re-signing with the Panthers,

Robby Anderson.[13] McCoy committed his second turnover of the first quarter, as an overthrown pass intended for Antoine Wesley was intercepted by Donte Jackson. The Panthers continued to increase their lead, with Zane Gonzalez converting a field goal on the ensuing drive before adding another field goal in the second quarter. Jalen Thompson then intercepted an overthrown pass from Walker intended for Terrace Marshall Jr., but the Cardinals were forced into a three-and-out and had to punt on their third consecutive drive. Gonzalez closed out the first half with a 49-yard field goal, completing the Panthers' 23–0 shutout of the Cardinals in the half. After the Panthers were forced to punt for the first time in the game on the opening drive of the second half, Matt Prater kicked a 47-yard field goal for the Cardinals' first points of the game. Chuba Hubbard then scored a rushing touchdown, with Walker completing a pass to Marshall for the two-point conversion. After McCoy sustained a chest injury (later clarified to be a pectoral injury)[14] on a sack by Shaq Thompson, he left the game and was replaced by Chris Streveler.[15] Streveler was involved in a pair of Cardinals turnover on downs, the first one coming after he was sacked by Fox and Reddick, and the second one after he fumbled the snap, which was recovered by Eno Benjamin but was advanced no further; these instances sandwiched a botched handoff between Walker and Hubbard that was recovered by Zach Allen. After James Conner scored on an 11-yard rush in the fourth quarter, Gonzalez capped off the Panthers' 34–10 victory with his fourth field goal of the game. While the other three NFC South teams lost their respective Week 10 games, the Panthers picked up a vital underdog[16] victory and improved to 5–5, matching their win total from each of the previous two seasons. Additionally, Gonzalez's perfect kicking conversion rate won him the first NFC Special Teams Player of the Week award again.[17]

Week 11: vs. Washington Football Team

Game information
Newton about to throw a pass

Ahead of the game, Cam Newton was named as the starter over P. J. Walker.[18] The Panthers scored first as Newton completed a pass to D. J. Moore for a touchdown on the opening drive. Later in the first quarter, Antonio Gibson fumbled the ball while being tackled by Morgan Fox, with Frankie Luvu recovering the loose ball, but the Panthers were unable to capitalize. Early in the second quarter, Washington, led by former Panthers head coach Ron Rivera and former Panthers quarterback Taylor Heinicke, drew even with Heinicke passing to Cam Sims for a touchdown. After Newton scored on a 25-yard touchdown run, Julian Stanford forced a fumble from DeAndre Carter on the ensuing kickoff return. However, Troy Apke was able to recover the ball for Washington, and they rebounded with a touchdown pass from Heinicke to Terry McLaurin with 14 seconds left in the first half. Washington then took the lead on the opening drive of the second half as Heinicke scored his third passing touchdown of the game, finding Carter in the end zone. The Panthers equalized early in the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass from Newton to Christian McCaffrey, but former Panthers kicker Joey Slye, who had played against the Panthers earlier in the season as a member of the Houston Texans, kicked two field goals in the final five minutes. This proved to be the difference, and the Panthers lost 27–21.

Week 12: at Miami Dolphins

Week 12: Carolina Panthers at Miami Dolphins – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Panthers 7 3 0010
Dolphins 7 14 6633

at Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida

  • Date: November 28
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game weather: Mostly sunny, 77 °F (25 °C)
  • Game attendance: 62,389
  • Referee: John Hussey
  • TV announcers (Fox): Chris Myers, Daryl Johnston, and Jen Hale
  • Recap, Game Book
Game information

After

Robby Anderson, while the second one was to Xavien Howard on a pass intended for Moore. From the Howard interception, Tua Tagovailoa passed to Jaylen Waddle for a touchdown. The Dolphins scored their third touchdown of the first half as Myles Gaskin took a direct snap from the wildcat formation and ran in from three yards out. In the final minute of the first half, the Dolphins were driving down the field in an attempt to further increase their lead before halftime, but a botched snap from Austin Reiter to Tagovailoa with 12 seconds left was recovered by Frankie Luvu. As Luvu attempted to return the fumble recovery, he was tackled by Isaiah Ford with one second left, allowing Zane Gonzalez to kick a 41-yard field goal to end the first half. The Panthers successfully executed a fake punt on the opening drive of the second half, with Sean Chandler taking the direct snap from long snapper J. J. Jansen and running 14 yards for the first down, but the drive still ended in a punt later. Gaskin then added his second rushing touchdown of the game, which also came from a direct snap three yards out. Jason Sanders hit the left upright on the ensuing extra point conversion but later added two field goals to secure Miami's lead. Meanwhile, Newton was benched after his poor performance and was replaced by P. J. Walker for the fourth quarter.[19] However, on his first drive of the game, Walker was forced to scramble out of the pocket and his underthrown pass intended for Ian Thomas was intercepted by Nik Needham
, leading to the second of Sanders' field goals. A late Panthers drive to try and narrow the deficit was unsuccessful, and the 33–10 loss dropped them to 5–7 ahead of their bye week.

Week 14: vs. Atlanta Falcons

Game information