CHARLOTTE — Robert Hunt knows the city of Charlotte is hungry. The town has been waiting, biding its time, eager for a winning team.

But as the Panthers approached the latter stretch of the season last year, Hunt began to sense something building. And now, as he introduces his family to the Queen City, the cautious but bubbling hope feels palpable.

"Getting into the building, getting into the stadium and playing games, you see, you can feel it, man. This city—speaking for the city—has a lot of hope; they want winners," Hunt said Tuesday afternoon, on veteran report day for training camp.

"And you can feel it once it's kind of close, like we won five games last year, which is not great, by any means, but it felt like we were doing something great because it's the city looking for it."

Hope can look like a lot of things. As this offseason rolled along, though, reflection gave way to expectations, and expectations gave way to anticipation.

The players have heard it, the idea that they could be a dark horse playoff team in the NFC this year—"obviously we all see it, if you watch, like I'm a SportsCenter guy," said Hunt—and they know that comes with a weight of responsibility that has proven difficult in the past.

But as Canales famously likes to remind his team, "worry about us, come back to us." Take care of each other, and everything else will take care of itself.

"So, that vibe feels great," continued Hunt. "The team vibe feels great. I feel like the team feels that they, we all want to be good, man, no matter what it is.

"It was two (wins) before I got here. It was five last year. A year before that, I have no idea what it was. I remember '15 when Cam (Newton) was here.

"I think, personally, man, I like what I see. Obviously, we've got to play some football here in the next couple of weeks, and we'll see how that feeling will look. Then, we'll play other teams. We'll see how that feeling will look, but I think we're built the right way."

Being built the right way goes a long way towards creating a winning football team. General manager Dan Morgan has emphasized building up the size and toughness of his team the past two offseasons, bringing in "dawgs" that can dominate. Morgan hammered those points home again on Tuesday, reiterating in his opening statement before camp the commitment to "building a smart, tough, passionate, competitive, resilient, and adaptable team."

Guys like Hunt were a big piece (literally and figuratively) in the 2024 free agency class. As more of those pieces have come together and the Panthers have seen how they fit into Morgan's plan, the hope Hunt feels around Charlotte is also permeating Bank of America Stadium.

"I think we're physical, I think we're big, I think we're nasty," Hunt preached.

"We got new skill (guys), we got skills on defense, I mean new D-lineman, that's, I don't know, for me personally, I'm not setting the expectations or anything like that, I'm just saying for me personally, I think I like what I (see).

"Because I'm a guy that's always back against the wall; I was a two-star athlete, went to a school that graduated with 18 kids. I like to surprise people because when I walk into a room, they don't know me.

"So hopefully, and I mean that I get chills speaking on it, hopefully we can do that because I really feel, I like what I feel."

Morgan and the Panthers implemented this strategy with a ferocity last season with the offensive line group. The unit was a bright spot all year long—going from second-most sacks with 65 in 2023, to 21st with 36 sacks in 2024—and it allowed the front office to not only put their attention elsewhere this past free agency and draft, but return the whole unit, a huge building block to success.

"I've never been a part of a room that has retained everybody," noted Hunt.

"Everybody came back, like that's the first time I've seen that in my career, so it's awesome, man. It just…speaks for us, the guys in the room. I mean, they believe in us. We work hard, we trust each other. Second year should be fun, man."

Carolina, as Hunt mentioned, also put a ton of free agency and draft resources into skill players and defensive big men. It helps logistically on the field, but Morgan also sees a huge advantage in the competitiveness that has arisen among those groups, which is now permeating across the entire roster.

"I'm excited not just about the receiving corps but other areas as well," Morgan said. "It's going to be a really good competition, and that's what we want on this roster. We want to create competition. I think that just brings out the best in everybody. So yeah, I'm just excited to watch it and see how it unfolds."

It sounds a lot like hope with a plan to achieve success. And for a city that has cautiously approached such a feeling in recent years, it's a heady combination. Robert Hunt knows Charlotte is hungry and ready for a winner; now the Panthers just have to deliver.

"Whatever ( Bryce Young ) wants to do, he's got the pieces around him to try to help do that, and we can do a good job protecting him, and everybody else can come in, and it's gonna take all 11 of us," Hunt said.

"So we all play the right way, Bryce will do well, O-line will do well, the Panthers do well, everybody happy.

"Then, we all living good in Charlotte."