NFL Picks 9/27 – Panthers @ Browns

by Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com

Week Three of the 2026 NFL season continues today with the Carolina Panthers (1-1) visiting the Cleveland Browns (1-1) this afternoon at Huntington Bank Field on Fox. The teams are meeting for the first time since the 2022 season-opener when Cleveland escaped with a 26-24 win at Carolina. Today’s game will be the eighth all-time meeting between the franchises; Carolina leads the series 4-3.  

Carolina is a 1.5-point favorite and the total is 42.5.

WHAT BOTH TEAMS DID IN WEEK 2

Carolina crushed Atlanta 34-3 on the road in Week 2. It was Carolina’s fourth straight win against their NFC South rivals. The game began on an ominous note for Atlanta when starting quarterback Cooper Rush — who opened the year as the QB3 but was thrust into the starting spot because of injuries to Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. — fumbled on the opening possession of the game. It was all downhill from there for the Falcons as the fans booed the team for the overwhelming majority of the game.  

Bryce Young completed 23 of 36 passes for 287 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Young seems to enjoy playing Atlanta as he’s now 5-1 against them in his career. He also passed for a franchise-record 448 yards in a 30-27 overtime win at Atlanta last season. Two of Young’s touchdown passes went to newly-acquired tight end Darren Waller. Second-year wideout Tetairoa McMillan caught 5 passes for a team-high 101 yards in the win.

Carolina linebacker Devin Lloyd amassed a huge game against Atlanta, finishing with 9 solo tackles, 2 interceptions, 1 sack and 1 defensive touchdown. 

Cleveland stunned the heavily-favored Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-19 on the road in Week 2. The Browns were an 8.5-point underdog entering the game. Tampa Bay’s loss likely knocked out a large number of people in their survival pool. The game was delayed for a little over 2 hours at the two-minute warning due to lightning.

When the game resumed, Tampa Bay was poised to take the lead and win the game when they drove to the Cleveland 13-yard line. But a holding penalty pushed them back to the 20 and Baker Mayfield threw an incomplete pass on 4th and 10 which sealed the victory for the Browns.

Embattled Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was outstanding as he completed 24 of 30 passes for 238 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Watson struggled in Cleveland’s season-opening 34-10 loss at Jacksonville and has experienced non-stop turbulence since he was traded to the Browns in 2022. Last week’s terrific performance in Cleveland may have earned Watson a reprieve as many did not feel he should be the starting quarterback for the Browns. 

INTRIGUING HOME OPENER FOR CLEVELAND

When an NFL team plays their first home game of the year, it’s usually met with a tremendous amount of hope and hoopla from the thousands of fans who attend. But the Cleveland Browns are in an unusual situation as the aforementioned and somewhat toxic Deshaun Watson was named the starting quarterback ahead of second-year, signal-caller Shedeur Sanders.

Deshaun Watson being named the starting quarterback caused controversy due to fans being wary of his uninspiring four-year stint with the Browns where Watson has spent most of those four seasons being injured or not playing well. Watson looked marvelous in last week’s upset win at Tampa Bay, and that may simmer down the hostility from a portion of Browns fans who were ready to boo Watson in today’s home opener. 

It will be interesting to see what the reaction to Deshaun Watson will be when he takes the field against Carolina today. Were the fans encouraged by Watson’s excellent performance last week at Tampa Bay? Or do the fans still want him out of Cleveland?

GAME STORYLINES: CAROLINA

After missing the playoffs for 7 straight seasons from 2018-2024 and finishing 5-12 in 2024, the Carolina Panthers came out of nowhere to win the NFC South division with an 8-9 record a year ago. Despite posting a losing record, Carolina won the NFC South division for the first time since 2015, when they went 15-1 and advanced to the Super Bowl. Their 8 wins was their most since 2017 when they finished 11-5. 

Carolina’s season ended with a last-second 34-31 loss to the playoff-tested Los Angeles Rams (12-5) at home in the opening Wild Card round.

A big reason for last season’s turnaround was the improved play of quarterback Bryce Young. The Panthers moved up 8 spots in the 2023 NFL Draft to select Young with the No. 1 overall pick. Young struggled during his first two years in the NFL, he was even benched two games into his second season in 2024. But Young regained the starting spot later in the year and ended the 2024 campaign on a high note by leading the team to a 4-5 finish after the Panthers started the year 1-7. 

Bryce Young’s strong finish to the 2024 season carried over to 2025 as he posted career-highs in passing yards (3,011), touchdowns (23) and completion percentage (63.6). Last season saw Young begin to live up to the lofty expectations that came with being selected No. 1 overall in the draft. 

Bryce Young appears to be improving again in year four as he’s gotten off to a fantastic start in 2026. Through two games, the 25-year-old, Alabama product has passed for 648 yards with 6 touchdowns to 1 interception on 63 percent completions. He’s also rushed for a touchdown. Young could be in store for a huge second NFL contract as he has one year left on his rookie deal. At this point, the more Carolina stalls on extending Young, the higher his value is going to get.

The great production from the young wideout duo of 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year Tetairoa McMillan (176 receiving yards this yr) and Jalen Coker (204 receiving yards, 2 TD’s) has been instrumental in Bryce Young’s improvement over the last 2 seasons. The 23-year-old McMillan was selected eighth overall (Arizona) in last year’s draft and was magnificent as a rookie, finishing with 70 receptions for 1014 yards and 7 touchdowns. The 24-year-old Coker could be in store for a breakout campaign in year three after registering a career-high 138 receiving yards and two touchdowns in Week 1 against Chicago. 

Carolina could potentially have an explosive and long-lasting passing attack with 25-year-old Bryce Young throwing to 23-year-old Tetairoa McMillan and 24-year-old Jalen Coker. The trio has the chance to create something special together going forward. The Panthers offense is averaging 35.5 points per game through 2 games in 2026. 

GAME STORYLINES: CLEVELAND

In March 2022, the Cleveland Browns stunned the sports world when they traded for then-27-year-old star quarterback Deshaun Watson and then signed him to a fully guaranteed 5-year, $230 million contract. Cleveland acquired and then paid Watson handsomely, despite the fact that he missed the entire 2021 season due to a dispute with the Houston Texans and looming sexual assault charges.

The Browns believed they were a quarterback away from being Super Bowl contenders and ignored the potential problems with Watson.

Unfortunately, Deshaun Watson’s looming issues in 2021 with the Houston Texans came back to bite the Browns immediately. Watson’s tenure in Cleveland has brought sorrow instead of Super Bowls as his suspension, subpar play, injuries and intense public backlash over the past 4 years has kept the Browns in peril.

Deshaun Watson’s issues began before he started his first game for the Browns when the NFL handed him an 11-game suspension for violating the NFL Personal-Conduct Policy following allegations of sexual misconduct and assault. The suspension limited Watson to just 6 games in 2022. A pair of shoulder injuries limited him to 6 games again in 2023. Watson then suffered an Achilles injury in October 2024 which ended that season after 7 games for him. While rehabbing, Watson tore his Achilles in January 2025 which kept him out for the entire 2025 season.

With Deshaun Watson scheduled to miss the entire 2025 season, Cleveland drafted quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel (3rd Rd – Oregon) and Shedeur Sanders (5th Rd – Colorado) in the 2025 NFL Draft as possible successors for Watson. This created even more of a circus atmosphere in Cleveland as former players, pundits and fans felt Shedeur should’ve been drafted much higher than the fifth round, and believed he was a better NFL prospect than Gabriel.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski naming Shedeur Sanders the QB3 — behind starter Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel — to start the 2025 season and refusing to play him until an injury to Gabriel forced him to, likely sealed his fate with the Browns. Cleveland finished 5-12 last year and Stefanski was fired after the season. Cleveland hired Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken as its head coach to replace Stefanski.

In the offseason, Cleveland make two eye-opening moves. They traded All-World Defensive End Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams for edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2029 third-round pick. Garrett was the 2025 AP Defensive Player of the Year and set the single-season sack record with 23 last year. The Browns also made the surprising move of bringing Deshaun Watson back and letting him compete for the starting job. Many expected Cleveland to cut bait with Watson and move on when Kevin Stefanski was fired. 

The loss of future Hall-of-Famer Myles Garrett, along with Deshaun Watson winning the starting quarterback job over Shedeur Sanders cast a gloomy outlook on the 2026 Browns season. Cleveland’s over/under for wins was 5.5 entering the 2026 campaign, which is amongst the lowest in the NFL.

Despite his disastrous first four years with the Browns, Deshaun Watson has gotten off to a great start in 2026. Watson has passed for 443 yards with 3 touchdowns and an interception while completing a whopping 76.9 percent of his passes through 2 games. Watson leading the Browns to an unexpected win at Tampa Bay last week provides some hope that the spectacular ability he showed with the Houston Texans from 2017-2020 could still be inside of him and ready to be displayed on a week-to-week basis in 2026.

THE PICK: PANTHERS (-1.5)

Cleveland picked up an impressive and unexpected 23-19 win at Tampa Bay last week. But I’m leaning towards that being a fluke and they’ll revert back to their Week 1 performance at Jacksonville where they lost 34-10.  Lay the Points…Panthers 31, Browns 17