CHARLOTTE—The Panthers loaded up on young defensive talent in this year's draft, and their impact has already been felt. Lee Hunter is setting himself up as a mountain in the trenches, and in the secondary, Will Lee III and Zakee Wheatley are progressing quickly.

It's come in spurts of growing pains, but, as defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero pointed out, the willingness to push through those moments is what excites him for the future.

It starts with Lee, the Texas A&M product who has spent a lot of time this camp working at outside corner with the first-team starters.

"He's been good. He's been really good," complimented Evero of Lee. "There's obviously — he's a rookie, and he's fighting through a lot of things. He's learning a new environment, he's learning a new playbook, he's learning new coaches, but he's doing a heck of a job, and one thing that is just like, since the day he got here, that really stands out is the confidence.

"There's been so many good plays, and there's been some plays that obviously he's going to learn and grow from, but his confidence never wavers. He's very coachable. He's optimistic. He's confident about what he's going to do, and we just know that the more he practices, especially going against our receivers and getting a lot of those game-type reps, he's going to get better and better and better, and it's only going to help our team."

Having to face the top receivers, as Evero pointed out, has forced Lee to accept defeat at times. It's one of the hardest lessons a corner has to learn, especially a college star coming to the NFL: there will be times you get beat. How do you respond?

"Oh, he doesn't flinch," answered Evero. "There's been plays he's given up to TMac or Legette in practice, and that's what you're looking for first and foremost because there's never going to be a corner in the league that is never going to give up a play. So we're looking for the no flinch, no blink, and that's him.

"He's right back to work; he takes the corrections, he takes the coaching points, and I'm loving it that he's getting those experiences now when we have a little room for error."

For Wheatley, settling into the safety position requires a different learning curve. The Evero defense puts an onus on the safeties to handle extensive communication responsibilities. There are currently veterans and experienced guys ahead of the rookie. But that gives him time to catch his breath.

"He's doing a tremendous job," promised Evero. "Very confident, very good athlete; he's working through the playbook, and it's a little bit more challenging at the safety spot, just the communication aspect of it, the checks and adjustments, the formation recognition and things like that.

"So, he's got a lot on his plate and he's trying to catch up to the veterans, but, the one thing that I really admire about this young man is that he gets out there and, regardless of if he doesn't make the right call or doesn't make the right play, the confidence doesn't waiver, and, he continues to just battle."

Young's ownership of offense showing up pre-snap

As the Panthers wrapped up their 2025 season, evaluating what went right and what could be improved, Dave Canales issued Bryce Young a challenge: take ownership of the time between the huddle and the snap.

It's the pre-snap window where the best quarterbacks thrive, able to read defenses, make checks where needed, and move guys into place. So, that has been the focus for Young this offseason. And as Carolina moves through training camp, offensive coordinator Brad Idzik has seen it coming to fruition.

"It's snap point timing," explained Idzik. "It's making sure your guys are urgent to the line of scrimmage. Bryce is such a good processor pre-snap. He can start to read, what are the intentions of the defense.

"But he needs to get everybody set, so we're threatening the defense that, 'Hey, a legitimate stance by a wide receiver. O-line is in an athletic position.' Not just standing up waiting for, 'OK, when does the real true cadence start?'"

By confusing the defense with the cadence, in theory, Young can not only read their intentions but move the offense into a more advantageous situation as a result.

"(Quarterbacks) need to be a legitimate threat the second they get to the line of scrimmage, so the defense starts showing their hands, so Bryce can work his magic in the pre-snap process of seeing 'OK, what coverage do I think it is, where do I think they're bringing pressure?'" continued Idzik.

"All that stuff is tied in, so him pushing the urgency of breaking the huddle and getting to the line of scrimmage is only going to help him kind of open up his book of being able to process pre-snap."

No official kicker competition, but Fitzgerald still facing "competition"

Tracy Smith has been through plenty of offseasons without a kicker or punter competition. It's the nature of the NFL roster rules and training camp schedule, the Panthers special teams coordinator explained on Monday. But this is the first offseason since Smith took over the job in Charlotte that there is little drama or tension around his specialist.

In 2024, it was incumbent Eddy Piñeiro competing against rookie Harris Mevis. Then, in 2025, veteran Matthew Wright was kicking against then-rookie Ryan Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald won the job and put through 24-29 field goals. His four game-winning field goals tied the record for the most by a rookie in NFL modern history. Understandably, that squashed any talk about a kicker competition as the Panthers shaped plans for 2026.

But that doesn't mean Fitzgerald relaxed. Kicker is a unique position that can pull from a pool of players that need a lot less time to get in football shape.

"Kickers always have competition," said Smith. "Competition just comes from external players, that kind of thing. So he's competing with himself every day and competing with everybody else that's available."

Even in that competition with himself, though, Fitzgerald is winning. A lot of that, Smith explained, is simply due to his kicker's experience.

"He's done a nice job. We're seeing a different player in some ways just by having the whole season behind him. Each of these experiences, you're going to see him do it for the second time. He was different at Fan Fest. He's different in preseason one. He's dealing with off days more like the season.

"He's more prepared for this camp. He knew what was coming, so he's ready every day for his job."

With the season quickly approaching, Fitzgerald's competition, or lack thereof, is a sign of things steadying for the Panthers kicker position.

"I think he's handled it well," said Smith. "Done a nice job, maturing, that kind of thing. No issues at all."