CHARLOTTE — When Panthers general manager Dan Morgan walked into training camp for the 2025 season, he had a list of things he was looking for, things he was hoping to see over the next four weeks.

It was like a mission statement for the second-year GM, a laundry list of qualities he wanted this team to embody as they prepare for tomorrow's first practice.

"As we begin the season, I just wanted to reaffirm our commitment to building a smart, tough, passionate, competitive, resilient, and adaptable team," Morgan began. "We aim to trust our process, be disciplined, and build a team that can sustain over time. Over the offseason, we've made targeted upgrades to our roster, adding key pieces on both sides of the ball to address our needs and create more dynamic options offensively and defensively. While still in process, we believe these moves, combined with our existing talent, veteran leadership, and the development of our young players, position us well for the challenges ahead.

"This season, our goals are clear. Improve our consistency. Develop our young core. Have our vets lead the way and compete every week with a relentless team-first mindset. We're committed to playing disciplined, physical football, and creating a culture of high character and resilience. I have full confidence in our players, coaches, and staff to rise to the occasion. Together, along with ownership empowerment, we aim to build a foundation for long-term success while putting in the work and earning our arrival."

That's a lot, but Morgan's done a lot this season to put the team in a more competitive position.

From their first day of free agency splurge that brought in five starters or contributors on defense (including defensive linemen Tershawn Wharton and Bobby Brown III, outside linebacker Patrick Jones II, linebacker Christian Rozeboom, and safety Tre'von Moehrig) to their aggressive draft moves and non-moves that brought wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and pass-rushers Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen in the first three rounds, Morgan and the front office attacked the offseason with the same kind of directness with which he played.

And even the guys he brought in know what that's like.

"Going back and watching his tape, man, Dan's a freak," Scourton said with a nod to the former middle linebacker. "He's a monster, man. I have so much more respect for him because he's been in my position."

Now, Morgan's trying to position this team for the kind of stability he enjoyed as a player here from 2001 (when he was their first-round pick, 11th overall) to 2007. He was part of the build-up from a defense that ranked next-to-last in the league his rookie year to second in the league in 2002, when John Fox came here and brought that "tough and smart" mantra that's part of Morgan's DNA now. That team quickly rose to a Super Bowl appearance and a trip to the NFC Championship Game in 2005, and Morgan was in the middle of it all.

So he's seen turnarounds, and while hesitant to put any kind of playoff expectations on this team, he clearly sees it as improved from last year's team, which came on late to finish 5-12.

"To me, if you're doing the things that I mentioned, things will take care of themselves whether it's playoffs, I think that you need to not look in that direction. I think that you have to go out there again and work on a daily basis, and you've just got to earn it.

"I think everything that's going to come to us this year is going to have to be earned, and again it starts out there on the practice field."

They're also approaching things from a more stable place this offseason, with a roster that increased the competition at a number of key spots — specifically wide receiver and defensive tackle — while retaining the entire offensive line and adding a 1,000-yard backup running back in Rico Dowdle to complement Chuba Hubbard.

So they're not looking to make wholesale changes now, opting to see what this younger roster looks like.

A year ago, the transaction wire was a busier place for the Panthers.

They were running guys in and out throughout OTAs and the early days of training camp, a regular churn. And then when initial cuts were made in late August, they claimed six players off waivers from other teams, taking advantage of the top spot in waiver order.

This year, since they made the moves required to sign undrafted rookies, they made exactly one transaction, and it involved an injured undrafted rookie, who was replaced by a guy who was here previously.

"We had to make a lot of moves; our depth wasn't very good last year at this time," he said. "But that doesn't mean this year that we're stacked and we're ready to roll. We're still going to be aggressive, and aggressiveness doesn't always mean action either. We're going to be aggressive behind the scenes and, I think, you know, some of the things we do behind the scenes, maybe that you guys don't even know. We're going to look for any avenue to get better, but just because we don't do it doesn't mean we're not being aggressive."

They brought in about a dozen players earlier this week for workouts, to prepare their emergency lists for the season, but they haven't made any moves at this point. They've also taken a careful approach to adding veterans since their March moves, though they've been connected with a lot of speculation about veterans at cornerback and safety.

"I think it's going to be continuous throughout the season," Morgan said. "I think we're always going to look for ways to improve the roster. But sometimes the answers are on your own roster and it's about us developing our players and just continuing to nail that into the coaches that, you know, we've got to develop our young core, and I think that's that's the way to go but again we're always going to be curious and look on the outside and if we feel like somebody can upgrade us and that's smart, then we'll look into it."

They're also in reasonably good shape entering camp.

Morgan said that defensive tackle Derrick Brown was cleared for the start of camp, though they'd be smart with his workload early on after he recovered from a meniscus tear that cost him all but one game in 2024. He also said the hamstring issue that landed punter Sam Martin on the non-football injury list Monday wasn't a severe one, and that they'd lean on the Jugs machine to punt in practice rather than bring in a second punter for the short time Martin's expected to be out.

What he's not going to do is make moves for the sake of making them, after taking a considered approach to a busy offseason.

Now it's time to see how it comes together.