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The Carolina Panthers enter the season with higher hopes than last year, while the Jacksonville Jaguars could be a sleeper. They meet in Week 1, and here are the Panthers-Jaguars bold predictions for the opener of the 2025 NFL season.
Looking to improve on last year’s dud of a 5-12 season, the Panthers hope to be much better on offense early in the season. Meanwhile, the Jaguars are hoping they don’t tank like last year’s 4-13 finish.
It should be a very interesting contest with a pair of impressive rookie receivers on the field.
Look for the Panthers to be aggressive on offense, and for Young to find throwing lanes. The yardage prediction is a little shy, but Pro Football Network believes Young is positioned to do well in Week 1.
“Young steps into Week 1 with a revamped offense, headlined by first-round WR Tetairoa McMillan,” Jason Katz wrote. “After a rookie season lost to offensive dysfunction, Young improved considerably as a sophomore. He could be poised for a third-year leap.
“Young will be asked to throw more, run more, and take advantage of soft defenses much like the one he faces in Week 1. It’s very easy to see Young throw for 200-plus yards and two touchdowns against the Jacksonville Jaguars.”
Young should bounce back in 2025, thanks in part to the way he handled last year’s benching, according to NBC Sports.
“He continued to lead throughout that process,” Canales said. “He earned a lot of respect from his teammates, from me. That, regardless of the situation — he didn’t agree with me on the decision not to play him — but he worked and he kept leading. He was showing me, ‘This is my team.’ And he was showing his teammates, ‘You’re my guys.’
“He came back in and we started to grow together, and then building into that into the offseason, the leadership continued,” Young said. “That was the most impressive part to me. It’s a real challenge. We’ve seen different situations, different scenarios on teams where a top pick is struggling and can get isolated from teammates. He just stepped up.”
It may wind up being his only big play of the game. And he may not add a lot of yardage around it. But look for Hunter to find a seam, make a catch, and go the distance.
The Jaguars are trying to fit things around Hunter and give him a chance to make some splash plays, according to ESPN.
“It’s super organized,” Hunter said. “Me and Coach [Liam Coen] go over it pretty much every week, and they send me a picture. And I get a piece of paper to keep in my locker so I know exactly where I have to be and when I need to be there.”
The Jaguars brought Hunter along slowly, perhaps too slowly at times.
“We saw there...
