The NFL announced its 2024 regular-season schedule on Wednesday night. Along with the league’s listing of 272 contests, each team also unveiled its schedule, and the presentations weren’t limited to listings.
The team announcements featured graffiti artists, bowling, prank calls, Lewis Hamilton sampling regional dishes (the Formula 1 driver called grits “prison food”), cartoons, a psychological examination, dad jokes, cake and the return of the Red Stallions girl. The Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs had the same idea – symbolically crushing their opponents.
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After having the worst record in the NFL last season, the Carolina Panthers are the only team without a prime-time appearance on the 2024 schedule. But they had more schedule-releases videos (three) for 2024 than victories in 2023 (two).
The Panthers had a pair of former Iron Bowl All-Americans – defensive tackle Derrick Brown from Auburn and quarterback Bryce Young from Alabama – on hand when team leaders heard the schedule for the first time.
Brown also was among the Carolina players who painted portraits of their teammates for use on schedule posters. After inspecting his portrait of nose tackle Shy Tuttle, Brown declared he had painted “a ghetto leprechaun.”
The Panthers also had a schedule-release video marking the team’s 30th anniversary season featuring big plays from Carolina’s past against the 2024 opponents. Former Auburn All-American Cam Newton plays a prominent role in his capacity as the Panthers’ quarterback from 2011 through 2018.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.