The Panthers have quietly become one of the better teams in the NFC. Last year they became the first NFC South team to win back-to-back division titles and have made it to the second round of the playoffs in each of the last two seasons. I understand they won the division with a sub-500 record. However, the last young team to do that and win a playoff game developed into the Legion of Boom up in Seattle. Carolina is building an ultra-talented young defense and has a budding young star under center. They may lack the dominant running back, but they make up for it with explosive weapons in the passing attack. This is a young team on the rise.

Quarterback

Cam Newton became a $100 million franchise quarterback this offseason. He had a down year in 2014 coming off ankle surgery and never really looked himself until mid-October while finishing strong in December. Still, he put up career lows in completions, attempts, yards (passing and rushing) and touchdowns (rushing and passing). He is now healthy and should bounce back in a major way in 2015. With an extremely talented and large group of young pass-catchers, a healthy ankle and an improved O-line, look for Superman to soar this season.

Running Back

Jonathan Stewart is the projected starter in Carolina. He is actually being drafted pretty high in fantasy leagues. I’ve seen him go as high as an RB2 in 12-team leagues. However, Stewart just isn’t reliable. Over the past three seasons he’s missed 20 games and has been less than impressive since 2009, which also happens to be his only 1,000 yard season. After rushing for 10 touchdowns in each of his first-two seasons, he has totaled only 10 TDs over the past five seasons. Stewart also doesn’t add much to the passing attack catching only 130 passes in his seven-year career. Fozzy Whittaker and Darrin Reaves are returning this year but neither guy has been overly productive or even average.

Rookie Cameron Artis-Payne is an excellent deep sleeper and could emerge as a valuable fantasy asset. With an ADP that makes him a RB6, he’s almost a must own. Also, never forget that the original touchdown vulture Mike Tolbert is always lurking in the backfield as well.

Wide Receivers

This is by far the most talented group of young receivers than Newton has had. They have the “Twin Towers” on the outside in second-year wideout Kelvin Benjamin and rookie Devin Funchess. KB is 6-foot-5 and Funchess is 6-foot-4. As a rookie, Benjamin caught 73 passes for over 1,000 yards and nine TDs. Ted Ginn has also returned, however, the 23-year-old Philly Brown is expected to take over as the primary deep threat. He could really be the wildcard of the WRs corps. This is not the lowly WRs corps that boasted only one option in Steve Smith just a few years ago.

Tight Ends

Greg Olsen is one of the premier tight ends in the league. He’s a top-five TE no matter how you break it down. The former Miami Hurricane put up career numbers last season totaling 84 receptions, 1,008 yards and six TDs. In each of the last three seasons he’s seen over 100 targets and averaged 889 yards and 5.6 TDs per season. He’s currently being drafted as the TE4 just behind Chiefs TE Travis Kelce.

Defense

The Panthers are building one of the best young defenses in the league through the draft. They have the star power of Luke Kuechly, but they have so much more and mix veterans in seamlessly. Carolina has the leadership of guys like LB Thomas Davis, DE Charles Johnson, S Roman Harper and CB Charles Tillman to guide their young athletes. The young stars you should definitely keep an eye on are DT Star Lotulelei, CB Bene Benwikere, DE Kony Ealy and LB Shaq Thompson. If you are an IDP player, this defense is littered with young talent.

Player to Watch

Watch the rookies Funchess and Artis-Payne. One or both of these guys should emerge as starting caliber players this season, at least a flex option. I expect both guys to be starters by Halloween. Funchess may have already won the job at camp. This team has so much young talent to pick from.

Key Stat

After throwing for over 4,000 yards as a rookie, Newton’s yards have decreased in each season. His 3,127 yards in 2014 was a career low. Look for this stat to change drastically this year. He should get much closer to his rookie mark of 35 TDs as well. The Panthers will need him to take the next step for the team to continue to progress, and that’s exactly what Newton is going to do.