What a difference a year makes in the NFL. That was never more obvious than in 2025. It was a season in which there were seven division champions from the previous year. The New England Patriots and Chicago Bears went from last place to first place, and the former reached the Super Bowl. The Carolina Panthers were a defensive disaster in 2024 Bob Donnan-Imagn Images In 2024, no team in the National Football League allowed more total yards, more rushing yards, more touchdown passes and more points (NFL single-season record 534) than Dave Canales’s Carolina Panthers. Thanks to some shrewd free-agent moves and some solid drafting by general manager Dan Morgan, coordinator Ejiro Evero’s group certainly made some strides this past season. It’s still not a perfect unit, but progress is being made. Ben Arthur on Fox Sports gave his thoughts on which defensive units would be ranked in the Top 10 in 2026. He has the Houston Texans, who allowed the fewest total yards in the league in ’25, leading the pack. At No.…