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.
Panthers QB Bryce Young will throw for 280-plus yards
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.”
Jaguars WR Travis Hunter will catch a 50-plus-yard TD
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 was a span where maybe he practiced on offense,” Coen said. “Let's call it a Thursday because we didn't do anything on the Fridays. And then he had Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then Monday, he was on defense. That's four days without doing anything on offense. Well, we learned that it was too long. That's too long to kind of go without doing anything on maybe the other side of the ball. So we learned something there.”
Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan will score a TD
Make that another rookie splash for this game. However, McMillan’s touchdown will likely come in the Red Zone. Most likely, he will be the recipient of a goal-line fade from Young. That could actually be a fairly common sight for the Panthers this season.
Panthers head coach Dave Canales is high on McMillan, according to NFL.com.
“That's what we're counting on,” Canales said via team transcript. “That's why he's here. Stretch the field, play big, and that was a sign of good things.”
Jaguars WR Brian Thomas Jr. will go for 100-plus receiving yards
It should be a good second-year debut for Thomas, who could wreck the Panthers’ secondary.
And it could be a weekly thing, according to NBC Sports and Rotoworld.
“Thomas has every chance to lead all receivers in fantasy points this season,” Rotoworld staff wrote. “Coen’s offensive system should be a boon for everyone in the Jacksonville offense, including Thomas. Coen has said he’ll use Thomas across the formation, keeping opposing secondaries guessing as to how Thomas will be deployed against them. If Lawrence improves in Coen’s system, the sky is the limit for one of the most exciting wideouts in recent NFL history.”
