BREAKING: ESPN Snubs Panthers in 2025 TE Rankings—But Is the League Finally Done Respecting Carolina?
It’s not exactly shocking, but it still stings. The Carolina Panthers were nowhere to be found on ESPN’s 2025 tight end rankings, and for anyone paying attention, the message couldn’t be louder or clearer: the national media no longer sees Carolina as relevant in the tight end conversation—or, maybe more damning, the league as a whole just doesn’t take the Panthers seriously anymore. And for a fan base already exhausted by years of false hope, coaching changes, offensive dysfunction, and missed expectations, this latest omission feels less like a snub and more like a cold confirmation of irrelevance.
Let’s get one thing straight. This wasn’t some accidental oversight. ESPN’s positional rankings are calculated, debated, vetted by scouts, execs, and analysts. It’s the football world’s unofficial list of “who matters” at each position going into the season. So when a team fails to even crack the honorable mention section—especially at a position they’ve publicly emphasized as a point of growth—it’s not just a critique. It’s a verdict.
And it’s one that cuts deep in Charlotte, where optimism around the tight end room had actually started to bubble heading into 2025. Ja’Tavion Sanders was supposed to be a breakout candidate. The front office was selling the narrative that this was the year Carolina’s tight ends would emerge as legitimate matchup nightmares. Head coach soundbites hyped their versatility. Local media spotlighted their chemistry in camp. But apparently, none of it registered outside of Carolina’s bubble.
The reaction from fans was predictable: frustration mixed with resignation. After all, this isn’t the first time ESPN—or any national outlet—has left the Panthers out in the cold. Carolina has been playing catch-up in almost every major positional ranking over the last few years. Quarterback? No love. Wide receivers? Overlooked. Offensive line? Disrespected. Tight end? Now officially invisible. And at a certain point, you have to stop blaming the rankings and start asking harder questions: have the Panthers earned the disrespect?
The brutal truth is that ESPN may not be wrong. Look at the numbers. Carolina’s tight ends last season were, at best, inconsistent and, at worst, non-factors. No highlight reel moments. No red zone dominance. No backbreaking third-down conversions that defined games. Just a lot of forgettable stat lines and limited impact. For a position group expected to be a key part of the offense, the results simply weren’t there. So what exactly were voters supposed to see? Potential? Promise? Optimism? That’s not how rankings work. You earn your spot with production, not with press releases and camp buzz.
But there’s another layer to this story—one that cuts even deeper than numbers. There’s a growing belief among fans and insiders alike that the Panthers are no longer seen as a serious football organization at the national level. From quarterback controversies to front office shakeups to offensive schemes that never click, Carolina has become less of a team and more of a punchline. And when that perception sets in, it affects everything. Rankings. Coverage. Primetime games. Free agency decisions. Even officiating, some argue. Once you fall out of the league’s circle of respect, it’s a steep climb to get back in.
The tight end rankings are just the latest symptom of a larger disease—a credibility crisis. And it’s not just about being left off a list. It’s about the ripple effect that exclusion causes. Young players don’t get noticed. Contract negotiations suffer. Player confidence dips. Opponents stop preparing with fear. And fans lose faith. The narrative builds that Carolina is a team spinning its wheels, stuck in a loop of mediocrity while the rest of the league evolves.
To be fair, the front office has tried to shake things up. There’ve been flashes of urgency, like the drafting of Sanders, the reshuffling of offensive staff, and the insistence that this team is “retooling,” not “rebuilding.” But from the outside looking in, those moves haven’t produced enough visible change to shift the perception. The rest of the league—and especially the analysts shaping ESPN’s rankings—aren’t seeing transformation. They’re seeing more of the same.
Still, some within the Panthers building are reportedly using the ESPN snub as bulletin-board material. Coaches are preaching that respect is earned, not given. Players are doubling down on the underdog mentality. There’s chatter that Sanders and the TE corps have taken the ranking personally, planning to use it as fuel. And that’s great—until the games start. Motivation without execution is just noise. If the Panthers want respect, they have to do more than talk about it. They have to take it.
What would that look like? It starts with redefining the role of the tight end in the Panthers’ offense. These guys need to be involved early and often—not just as check-down options or safety blankets but as central weapons. Scheme them into mismatches. Line them up wide. Run the offense through them when necessary. Put the league on notice with statement games. Until that happens, the rankings won’t change. And honestly, they shouldn’t.
And here’s the kicker—if the Panthers do rise, if Sanders becomes the player some believe he can be, and if Carolina finally fields a competitive offense, this kind of snub will be the origin story. It’ll be the moment fans look back on and say, “That’s when it turned.” But they have to earn that moment. Because right now, there’s no conspiracy. No hidden bias. Just a team with a lot to prove and a long road ahead.
For now, the Panthers are exactly where ESPN says they are: on the outside looking in. No ranked tight ends. No national buzz. No reason for anyone outside Charlotte to pay attention. But that can change. And it has to—because if another year goes by with this franchise sitting quietly at the bottom of every list, Panthers fans won’t just be frustrated.
They’ll stop caring.
