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. After a Week 16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Panthers were eliminated from playoff contention for a fourth consecutive season. Ahead of Week 10, quarterback Cam Newton returned to the franchise after a one-year absence following an injury to starter Sam Darnold.
Draft
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
Final roster
Preseason Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 at Indianapolis Colts L 18–21 0–1 Lucas Oil Stadium Recap 2 Baltimore Ravens L 3–20 0–2 Bank of America Stadium Recap 3 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 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 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
In the Panthers' home and season opener against the New York Jets, quarterback Sam Darnold and wide receiver 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
In the first quarter, the Panthers opened the scoring when Sam Darnold threw a touchdown pass to Brandon Zylstra on the opening drive, with newly signed kicker Zane Gonzalez converting the extra point conversion. Gonzalez then made a field goal early in the second quarter, increasing the Panthers' lead to 10. On the next Panthers drive, Darnold recorded his second touchdown of the game, finding D. J. Moore with a two-yard pass in the end zone. In the final minute of the quarter, Jameis Winston scrambled out of the pocket and launched a long pass downfield intended for 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
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. 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
Both teams scored one-yard rushing touchdowns in the first quarter, with Ezekiel Elliott scoring first for the Cowboys before Sam Darnold scored for the Panthers. On the extra point conversion after Dak Prescott's touchdown pass to Blake Jarwin, the Panthers were penalized for having too many players on the field, and the line of scrimmage was moved to the one-yard line. On the ensuing two-point conversion, Prescott threw to Dalton Schultz, who was initially ruled to have successfully scored. However, upon further review, Schultz was tackled just short of the goal line by Jeremy Chinn and the tip of the football had not broken the plane of the end zone by the time Schultz's knee was down. On the next drive, Darnold scored his second rushing touchdown of the game. With the touchdown, his fifth rushing touchdown of the season, Darnold became the NFL's sole leader in rushing touchdowns on the season; he also became the first quarterback in NFL history to reach that mark in the first four games of the season. The Panthers led 14–13 at halftime, but the Cowboys dominated the third quarter and pulled ahead. After the Panthers' opening drive of the second half ended with Zane Gonzalez missing a 54-yard field goal attempt wide left, Prescott threw for touchdowns on all three of the Cowboys' third-quarter drives, finding Amari Cooper, Schultz, and Cedrick Wilson Jr., respectively. The Cowboys tried another two-point conversion after Schultz's touchdown, but Prescott's pass to CeeDee Lamb was too high. The Cowboys defense also contributed, with rookie Trevon Diggs intercepting Darnold on back-to-back Panthers drives sandwiching the Cowboys' third touchdown drive of the quarter; Diggs also became a league leader with five interceptions on the season up to that point. From the second Diggs interception, the Cowboys opened the fourth quarter with a 37-yard field goal from 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