Cleveland Browns 2022 opponent preview: Carolina Panthers

The Cleveland Browns kick off the 2022 season on the road against the Carolina Panthers. Here’s a preview of the upcoming contest.

Right now, the Cleveland Browns are working toward the 2022 season as they continue to work through their OTAs.

The main focus during this time is getting new players — including Deshaun Watson, Amari Cooper, and their recent rookie class — up to speed. They’re also going to be trying new wrinkles in their game plans while figuring out who will make their 53-man roster.

While they worry about this, we can look ahead to the 2022 season and dig into the teams Cleveland will be facing. First up is the Carolina Panthers, who will host the Browns in Week 1.

Panthers 2021 season

Carolina started out on fire last season. They added Sam Darnold from the New York Jets in an offseason trade and with him under center, they won three games out of the gate. Their first win was over the Jets as Darnold got his revenge against his former team.

The Panthers hot streak ended when the Dallas Cowboys knocked them off 36-28, which started a four-game losing streak. From there, they had just two more wins on the year, and even bringing Cam Newton back while Darnold was hurt didn’t help matters as they lost their final seven games of the season.

Not only did they have injury concerns with Darnold but star running back Christian McCaffrey played in just seven games all season and had just 442 yards and a single touchdown on the season.

Key offseason moves

So far, the Panthers have been relatively quiet in the offseason. They added Austin Corbett and Bradley Bozeman to their offensive line to help clean that up in free agency. They also brought in Ikem Ekwonu in the draft, giving them a much better left tackle.

As for departures, Haason Reddick was their biggest loss as the pass rusher headed to Philadelphia.

There are still rumors the Panthers could land Baker Mayfield and if so, it would be the second season in a row they kick off Week 1 with a new quarterback facing his former team.

When do the teams meet?

The first Sunday of the season is September 11 and the Browns will travel to Carolina for a 1:00 pm game.

Last time the Cleveland Browns played Carolina

Cleveland and Carolina have played just six times against one another and while the Panthers are 4-2 all-time in the series, the Browns did win their last meeting 26-20 in 2018. Down 20-17 in the fourth quarter, Cleveland scored on a Nick Chubb run to go up 23-20 and Greg Joseph knocked in a 41-yarder to make it a six-point lead — which was the final score of the game.

Player to watch

Right now, D.J. Moore appears to be the best player for the Panthers. He has topped 1,100 yards in each of the past three seasons and is dangerous after the catch.

Cleveland has a vastly improved secondary but they can’t let up for one second on this guy.