Year two of the Morgan-Canales era kicks off as the Cleveland Browns travel to the Queen City to take on the Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on August 8.
The two teams held a joint practice on Wednesday, August 5 at the Panthers practice fields.
Carolina enters the season led by second-year head coach Dave Canales. The Panthers finished the 2024 season with a 5-12 record, good for third in the NFC South.
Cleveland wrapped up the 2024 season with a 3-14 record, finishing fourth in the AFC North. Head Coach Kevin Stefanski enters his fifth season at the helm for the Browns. He carries a 40-44 record as their head coach.
This will mark just the fourth preseason matchup between the two clubs, with the Panthers leading the series 3-0.
The Matchup
About Carolina
- Since returning as the teamās starter in Week 8 against the Broncos, QB Bryce Young completed 197-of-319 passes (61.8%) for 2,104 yards with 15 touchdown passes and six interceptions, good for an 88.9 passer rating. His 16 completions of 25+ yards were the most in a 10-game stretch in his career. He also rushed 37 times for 223 yards and five touchdowns since Denver. In 2024, Young had 21 total touchdowns, a career-high. In six of the final nine games, he led the Panthers on game tying or winning drives.
- Despite missing the final two games of the season, RB Chuba Hubbard finished eighth in the NFL in rushing yards (1,195) in 2024. He also ranked third in yards after contact per rush (3.46), tied for ninth in rushing first downs (62), 10th in yards per carry (4.78), tied for 11th in carries (250), 13th in rushing touchdowns (10) and tied for 16th in rushes of 10+ yards (26).
- Depsite missing the final two games, fourth year CB Jaycee Horn notched career-highs in games played (15), total tackles (68), sacks (2.0), passes defensed (13), quarterback hits (two), and tackles for loss (five), while being named to the Pro Bowl.
- Before free agency began, the Panthers brass made it a priority to bring back several key players from 2024, re-signing CB Mike Jackson, TE Tommy Tremble, QB Andy Dalton, C Austin Corbett and C Cade Mays.
- Following a career-year, the Panthers also locked up CB Jaycee Horn to a four-year, $100 million contract, making him the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history at the time.
- Once the league-year began, Carolina signed key players on both sides of the ball. S Treāvon Moehrig, DT Turk Wharton, DT Bobby Brown III, OLB Pat Jones II and LB Christian Rozeboom were brought in to sure up the defense, while RB Rico Dowdle and WR Hunter Renfrow were added to a growing offense.
- The Panthers selected four offensive players and four defensive players in the 2025 NFL Draft. With their first-round pick, they selected WR Tetairoa McMillan out of Arizona. OLBs Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen were added on Day 2, and RB Trevor Etienne, S Lathan Ransom, DT Cam Jackson, TE Mitchell Evans and WR Jimmy Horn Jr. rounded out Carolinaās 2025 Draft Class.
About Cleveland
- The Browns had four players selected to the Pro Bowl last season. G Joel Bitonio, DE Myles Garrett, WR Jerry Jeudy and CB Denzel Ward were all selected with Garrett and Jeudy voted as starters. It marked Bitonioās seventh consecutive Pro Bowl, the fourth-most in Browns history. It was Garrettās sixth Pro Bowl selection, the most by a Browns defensive player. Ward was selected to his fourth career Pro Bowl, while the honor was the first for Jeudy.
- This offseason, Browns signed QB Joe Flacco, who spent a portion of the 2023 season with the club. That season, Flacco went 4-1 as a starter, while becoming the first player in Browns history to throw for 300 yards in four consecutive games en route to being named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Entering his 18th NFL season, Flacco has recorded a 105-86 (.550) career record as a starter. The Browns also traded for QB Kenny Pickett. Pickett is 15-10 (.600) as a starter and has engineered seven career game-winning drives. The 2022 first-round pick spent last season with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. During the 2025 NFL Draft the Browns selected QB Dillon Gabriel in the third round and QB Shedeur Sanders in the fifth. Gabriel was named the 2024 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year at Oregon, while Sanders was named the 2024 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year at Colorado.
- DE Myles Garrett led the NFL with 22 tackles-for-a-loss and finished second
in the league with 14 sacks last season. Garrett became the first player in NFL history to record at least 14 sacks in four consecutive seasons.
- WR Jerry Jeudy led the team last season with career highs in receptions (90) and receiving yards (1,229), while adding four touchdowns. Jeudyās 90 receptions set a single-season a franchise record and his 1,229 receiving yards were the fifth-most.
- CB Denzel Ward led the NFL last season with 19 passes defensed, while adding two interceptions. His 19 passes defensed marked a career high. He is the only NFL player to record at least 10 passes defensed and two interceptions in each of the past seven seasons (2018-24).
- TE David Njoku led the team with five receiving touchdowns last year, while adding 64 receptions for 505 yards. He passed WR Gary Collins for the second-most receptions in Browns history. Njoku only trails Pro Football Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome on the teamās all-time receptions list.
Connections
Panthers SDA Dom Capers (Cambridge), OA Keyshawn Colomon (Youngstown), DPGC Jonathan Cooley (Columbus), TE Mitchell Evans (Wadsworth), C Luke Kandra (Cincinnati) and RB KayāRon Lynch-Adams (Warren) grew up in Ohio. Capers also attended high school in Meadowbrook and coached defensive backs at Ohio State University (1982-83). S Lathan Ransom attended Ohio State (2020-24).
Browns DE K.J. Henry (Clemmons), T Jason Ivey (Charlotte), RB Ahmani Marshall (Winston-Salem), DE Julian Okwara (Charlotte) and TE Blake Whiteheart (Winston-Salem) are from North Carolina. Marshall (2020-21) and Whiteheart (2018-22) played college football at Wake Forest and aWR Stephen Bravo-Brown coached for the Demon Deacons (2016-18*). Ivey attended North Carolina A&T (2022-24). WR Winston Wright spent one season at East Carolina (2024). DC Jim Schwartz coached the secondary for one season at North Carolina Central University (1991). RBs Duce Staley is from Columbia, S.C., and played college football at South Carolina (1995-96). WR Gage Larvadain spent one season at South Carolina (2024). aST Kyle Hoke spent time on the coaching staff at South Carolina (2015-16, GA).
Panthers vs Browns
All-Time Series (Preseason): Three matchups | Carolina leads 3-0
Last Preseason Game: 8/26/05 | Carolina 23 at Cleveland 20
Preseason Series Record In Charlotte: One matchup | Carolina leads 1-0
How to Watch
Kickoff:Ā 7:00 p.m. ET Queen City News: Play by Play ā Anish Shrof; Analysts ā Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith; Sideline ā Carla Metts
Radio:Ā WRFX 99.7FM in Charlotte market ā Play by Play ā Jim Szoke; Analyst ā Kurt Coleman; Analyst ā Kevin Donnalley; Sideline ā Kristen Balboni
Per Release
Observations from the Panthers Joint Practice with the Browns