Panthers owner David Tepper: We are a playoff team this year

Panthers owner David Tepper’s team won the NFC South last season and he’s expecting more of the same in 2026.

During an event discussing the extension of a naming rights deal for Bank of America Stadium and the ongoing renovation of the building, Tepper was asked what a championship team looks like. His answer made it clear that he believes the Panthers should be vying for the top of the NFC this season.

“What we have here,” Tepper said, via the team’s website. “Yesterday, I said last year going into the year, we weren’t a playoff team, we were a team that could get to the playoffs. This year we are a playoff team.”

The Panthers won three more games in 2026 than they did in 2025 and won the division, so it’s realistic to expect the team to continue to improve in head coach Dave Canales’s third season at the helm. That expectation doesn’t come with any mandate, but failing to meet the owner’s view of how the season should play out would make for some questions about how the franchise would react to falling short.