The NFC South was there for the taking last season, as none of the teams in the division finished with a winning record. As the season reached the home stretch, the Carolina Panthers sputtered to a 2-2 record in the final four games and closed with a 7-10 record.

They finished tied with the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons, one game behind the division champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tom Brady's team won the title with a pitiful 8-9 record.

The Panthers have a completely different look as they prepare for the 2023 season. New head coach Frank Reich comes to the team with a reputation as being one of the best quarterback coaches in the league. That makes him an excellent fit for the job because the Panthers had the No. 1 pick in the draft and selected Bryce Young as the team's quarterback of the present and the future.

Heading into training camp, Young is already the team's QB1 as the Panthers hope to redefine their program with an elite quarterback and head coach. It seems unlikely that a complete rebuild will take place in the first season of the duo working together, but putting a much-improved offensive team on the field would be a solid indicator that the new partnership is working.

Reich and his coaching staff have tough decisions to make concerning the roster. Here's a look at three players who are likely to get cut by the end of training camp.

Wide receiver Damiere Byrd

The Panthers signed Byrd as a free agent in the offseason, but he is going to have to demonstrate that he is capable of making dynamic plays on a consistent basis if he is going to make the team. Byrd caught 13 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns with the Falcons last season, and that's just not good enough.

Perhaps a return to the team that Byrd played the first three years of his career will help him find his best form, but he has failed to latch on with the Cardinals, Patriots, Bears and Falcons since the end of his first run with Carolina.

Byrd, 30, faces tremendous competition among the WR crew, and it's clear that former Viking Adam Thielen and DJ Chark, Terrace Marshall, Laviska Shenault and second-round draft choice Jonathan Mingo are going to make the team and have an edge on the 30-year-old Byrd.

He is going to be competing with Marquez Stevenson, Gary Jennings and Shi Smith for the final receiving spot on the roster, and it will likely come down to which player can perform the best on special teams.

Byrd did a good job in this area early in his career, but he has not returned punts on a regular basis since the 2018 season, and he has not been overly effective in the return game since 2017. That's when the 5-9, 175-pound Byrd was 24 years old and was at the peak of his athletic ability.

He is a longshot to make the team and will most likely get cut this summer.

WR Shi Smith

A very similar analysis applies to Smith that was used for Byrd. The 24-year-old Smith may have a better chance to make the team than Byrd because of his youth, but the first two years of his professional career have been unimpressive.

The 5-10, 190-pound Smith lacks special skills, and he is coming off a season in which he caught 22 passes for 296 yards and 2 touchdowns. As Young tries to establish himself during his rookie year, he is going to be more confident throwing to established targets like Thielen and Chark than the lesser candidates, and that includes Smith.

Unless Smith distinguishes himself during training camp with his route running and speed, it is going to be a major challenge to make the team.

Smith also was in a diversion program in relation to drug and firearm charges he received after a 2022 arrest, and that will not help his cause. Smith will most likely get cut this summer.

CB Keith Taylor

The 24-year-old Taylor was a fifth-round selection out of Washington in the 2021 NFL Draft, but he has not demonstrated any special qualities as he prepares for his third year.

Taylor has not intercepted a pass in his first two seasons and has just three passes defensed in both the '21 and '22 seasons. He has done a decent job in tacking with 67 stops in his NFL career, but he is going to have a difficult time earning a roster spot when cornerbacks Jaycee Horn, Donte Jackson, C.J. Henderson, Stantley Thomas-Oliver and Rezjohn Wright are also on the roster.