CHARLOTTE — For Panthers head coach Dave Canales, putting the past behind him is easy. He lives with his eyes ahead; that's just how he approaches things.

And for the returning players from the Panthers' 2024 defense, they want to do that too. But the scar tissue from last season remains, and also serves as motivation to not let it be that way again.

"We don't need to be anything close to that," cornerback Jaycee Horn said. "You kind of want to throw it out of your mind because it's a new season, but at the same time, it's on the back of your mind too, because that should be really all the motivation you need to come back to camp. You don't want nothing like that to happen again. It was a lot of injuries and a lot of stuff of that nature, but at the same time, the stat book is what it is. Like, we weren't a good defense last year, so this year we just have to go even harder than we did last year.

"It's out there, yeah. I mean you know it is what it is. You've just got to go about handling it the right way, bouncing back."

To Canales' point, last year is behind them, so there's no use dwelling on it. At the same time, there's a reason it sticks in their mind. The Panthers set a league record for points allowed in a season, were second all-time in yards allowed, and third all-time in rushing yards allowed. It was so ridiculous, that even in the aftermath of last year's overtime win in the finale in Atlanta when they set the wrong kind of records, Canales joked: "If you're going to be last, be first last."

He knew what was coming, and that's why the change was so pervasive, and the focus so intent this offseason.

On the first day of free agency, they acquired five guys who should contribute immediately: Tershawn Wharton, Bobby Brown III, Tre'von Moehrig, Patrick Jones II, and Christian Rozeboom. That was after they locked up Horn to an extension to allow him to build on his first Pro Bowl appearance, and brought back his secondary running mate, Mike Jackson.

There's also the not-small matter of Derrick Brown coming back from the injury that cost him all but one game (the root of many of the 2024 problems). And then on draft weekend, they added a pair of pass-rushers in Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen, a safety who could contribute quickly in Lathan Ransom, and another big body up front in Cam Jackson.

That's why Canales doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about the past, because he knows the comparison to last year's roster is moot.

"It's easy. It's this week. It's today, so it's just what can we do today to help the 2025 Panthers?" Canales said. "No team, as long as the 16 years I've been in the NFL, no team is the same. The names can be the same. For example, we brought back all of our offensive linemen from last year. They're a different group now, and they're in different stages of their life. Ickey (Ekwonu)'s looking at a big contract, all those things like people change, people start to see the game differently, but they're growing together. They have a standard for each other.

"And so I think, for the defensive guys, it's a new year. We've got a bunch of new faces, and the guys who were here last year, they take a lot of pride in making sure that we're the best we can be this year."

Canales said they won't truly know what this defense can be for four to six games, considering all the change, and the need for this year's team to discover itself.

And that change was as welcome as it was needed.

Outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum, one of the few holdovers (he had 4.0 sacks and a forced fumble after returning for the last eight games of 2024) admitted it's easy to forget about the past, while acknowledging that it left a mark. And even if they never mention it, they know the world won't forget.

"We know this is not the standard," Wonnum said. "And that goes back to the competitive nature that Jaycee and DB and all those guys have on the field. It makes us want to go and compete more and more. There's no getting away from it. And we're not running from it either, but we're going to show y'all, we're gonna show the improvement, and how much better we are and how much better we can be."

With so many new guys, there's a clearer opportunity for a fresh start. Rozeboom said when he signed here, he was aware of last year's stats (which helped create the opportunity for him here), but he said when it's mentioned at all, it's not in a black-cloud-over-their-heads way.

"It's brought up sometimes, but it's not in a, ... I mean, obviously it's negative, but it's more like a growth thing," Rozeboom said. "And I think that's one of the player-led things too, which is bringing up like, 'Hey, we're not going to be like that again, we have to grow, we have to figure this stuff out.' It's not like it's at the front of the room."

The Panthers were also intentional about the places they brought guys from. Wharton, Brown, and Rozeboom all came here with Super Bowl rings from their time with the Chiefs and Rams (along with 2024 acquisition A'Shawn Robinson), and bringing those experiences to the mix is part of what they hope will accelerate that growth.

"I think we're going to be as good as we push ourselves," Bobby Brown said. "We've got the talent. We've got the people and the coaches in there, and I feel like we're going to have a game plan once they roll around.

"But I think now, as far as the players go, I feel like we go as far as we push."

And the pushing has been obvious. Between Horn yapping back and forth with quarterback Bryce Young, to the everyday presence of Derrick Brown in the middle of every workout, the emphasis has been clear. To be the defense they want to be in the future, the work has to be done daily.

"I mean, we're always looking to get better, man," Derrick Brown, the de facto elder statesman, said. "So it's one of those things where to be able to bring in those guys and add them to the group, it's been awesome to be able to have them be able to work.

"I mean, it's guys that want to go to work. I can deal with that all day long."