text: 2016 season Looking to defend their NFC South crown for a fourth straight season, the Panthers backfired. Top corner Josh Norman was cut by general manager Dave Gettleman in the offseason. Norman then signed with the Washington Redskins, leading the team to draft three corners to replace him. The Panthers' year started with a close loss to the Denver Broncos in the NFL Kickoff Game in a Super Bowl 50 rematch. A win against the San Francisco 49ers the following week didn't help, as the team went 1–5 over the first six weeks. After a week 13 blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the Panthers rebounded to win two straight. However, they couldn't stop the eventual NFC champion Atlanta Falcons who won the NFC South, ending Carolina's three-year run. Newton had statistically the worst season of his career and the team finished with a 6–10 record. The season was also marked by the death of former special teams coordinator Bruce DeHaven. Four days after the season ended, team president Danny Morrison resigned. The Panthers also lost defensive coordinator Sean McDermott who became Buffalo's head coach.
  2017 season
  2017 proved to be among the wildest seasons in Panthers history. Newton underwent offseason shoulder surgery and rehabbed for most of the remaining offseason. Longtime Panthers executive Brandon Beane left to become Buffalo's GM. Days before training camp, owner Jerry Richardson suddenly fired Dave Gettleman. The team hired his predecessor, Marty Hurney, as interim GM. The 2017 regular season had ups and downs, including a week 4 win over defending Super Bowl champion New England and trading WR Kelvin Benjamin to the Bills on Halloween.
  However, this all paled to the weekend of December 17. The Panthers entered the weekend 9–4 overall.