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It’s easy to understand why fans of the Carolina Panthers have gotten increasingly fed up with the franchise, and country music star Luke Combs made it very clear he’s one of the many people who’s nearing the end of their rope.
The Carolina Panthers have made the playoffs a single time since appearing in the Super Bowl in 2016, and the past decade or so has been defined by a revolving door of head coaches and starting quarterbacks inextricably linked to the meddling of owner David Tepper.
The Panthers have been in the midst of a perpetual rebuild that can largely be traced back to the departure of Cam Newton, but the team’s quest to bounce back has been crippled by a string of fairly inexplicable front office decisions that culminated with them hitting what seemed to be rock bottom last season after going 2-15 (good for the worst record in the NFL).
In 2022, the Panthers traded Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers in exchange for a second, third, and fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. San Francisco subsequently found themselves with one of the best running backs in the country, while the Panthers largely failed to take advantage of that capital.
That second-round pick was used as leverage in the blockbuster transaction that sent D.J. Moore to the Bears in exchange for the first overall pick in the aforementioned draft. The Panthers ultimately decided to select Bryce Young when they could have opted for C. J. Stroud, which seems to be a retroactively disastrous decision based on how each QB fared in their rookie campaign.
On Monday, Carolina lost yet another notable name after trading standout defensive end Brent Burns to the Giants in exchange for a second and fifth-round pick.
Now, there’s a slim chance that ends up being a brilliant move in hindsight, but it feels like the Panthers could’ve gotten a better return if they’d play their cards better—a notion North Carolina native Luke Combs championed while calling out the team in a fairly scathing tweet.
.@Panthers WHAT ARE WE DOING?!?!? No first round pick for McCaffrey a few years back and now none for Burns?!?! Are we just fire bombing the whole team here or what? I usually don’t comment on these kinds of things but it’s just becoming slow torture at this point.
— Luke Combs 🎤 (@lukecombs) March 12, 2024
The team’s recent decision to raise season ticket prices for 2024 gets more disrespectful with every passing day.