The NFL's biggest losers so far this season

For every winner in the NFL there is a loser, and in 2016 it feels like the losses for the league are starting to mount up into something significant. Every week ends with players, fans and even ad companies demanding apologies from the league.

Welcome back to the Yardbarker roundtable where we ask our experts to discuss the serious (and not so serious) side of sports. Yesterday we congratulated the winners at the halfway mark of the NFL season, today we recognize the losers who are dragging the league down this year. We asked our panel:

Who (or what) has been the biggest losers so far this season? (Ratings, people who can't stop talking about ratings, the Jags on TNF.)

Daniel Tran: What happened to you, Carolina? You used to be cool.

You dabbed your way into our hearts last season, but you haven’t done a thing this year to earn our affections. Not only is your defense near the bottom of the league in points against, Cam Newton is near the top in interceptions despite having a better receiving corp. than he did last year.

If being in last place in the NFC South wasn’t enough, you’re on pace to having the worst record of any team that had gone to the Super Bowl the previous year. We all want to love you, Carolina. Give us a reason.

Mike Tunison: The Mara family - Roger Goodell is supposed to absorb all the responsibility for the terrible things the NFL does. In the case of Josh Brown, Giants ownership was so obvious in their disinterest to investigate that they couldn't even hide behind the commissioner when evidence came to light.

Cam Newton - He was the darling of the 2015 season and an obvious pick for MVP. Now the Panthers are a washout, he's playing poorly, and he's alienated all his rabid supporters from last year with some puzzling comments on race.

Sam Greszes: Fun. When Earl Thomas gets flagged for earnestly hugging somebody, even if it was an official, something is very, very wrong. The NFL has been shooting itself in the foot for decades, but it's just stunning how little they understand about their audience and what they find enjoyable about a football game.

Watching somebody carry a ball for a certain distance isn't exciting in a vacuum. The personal and emotional elements of the game are what makes football so engrossing, and the NFL is actively trying to, well, legislate that emotion away.

Demetrius Bell: Remember when the Panthers were good? I honestly can't remember the last time a team turned 15 wins one year into a 1-5 start the next year, but this year's Panthers managed to achieve it and now they're in a pretty deep hole. The hole would be deeper had the NFC South-leading Falcons not gone on a two-game losing streak, so the Panthers are still alive at 2-5, somehow. They've got plenty of work ahead of them if they're going to salvage this season, and they're definitely a long way from the glory days of just one year ago. I don't think we'll be seeing them taking group photos on the sidelines at any point this season.

Shiloh Carder: Fantasy football players. This has to be one of the most frustrating seasons in a while. Just look a the running back position where Adrian Peterson, Eddie Lacy, C.J. Anderson, Danny Woodhead, Arian Foster, Thomas Rawls and Jamaal Charles have missed significant time or are done for the season while guys like Todd Gurley and Mark Ingram haven't performed as the fantasy studs they were touted to be. Just ask those folks who bit on Russell Wilson or Carson Palmer how their fantasy seasons are going.

Jamie Neal: There have been a lot of bad match ups and there are a lot of mediocre teams playing against each other. Watching the Seahawks and Cardinals play to a 6-6 tie was a depressing way to spend a Sunday night. Watching the Niners play anybody not named the Rams has been challenging. The Browns have a legitimate chance at going 0-16. The Bears are trash, the Jets have won two consecutive games (we call that a winning streak) and are still two games under .500, and the NFC South is awful outside of maybe Atlanta who look a little Jekyll & Hyde-ish.

I’ve never been one to miss games, even ones the Niners aren’t playing in, but lately, the product on the field isn’t really all that incredible across the board.

David Matthews: People who want Colin Kaerpernick to stick to sports are having a tough season. I've read so many awful Kaepernick takes and, even the well-intentioned ones, which I think is what this is supposed to be are so tone-deaf and ridiculous. Donald Trump, blowing into his dog whistle for one of the last times he will as a presidential candidate, blamed the NFL's sagging ratings on Colin Kaepernick. That take is as hot as it is reductive, folks, and if I could, I would consume that take intravenously. Unfortunately for old white folks everywhere, Kaepernick isn't going anywhere and he's going to continue to use the platform he has available to him and be the type of role model that Americans allegedly want our athletes to be. Kap just said there is nothing anyone can say to change his mind about the issues (which is funny enough, because how what could you say to Kaepernick that wouldn't immediately prove his point?) and recently he held a No Your Rights camp for underprivileged kids in the Bay Area. The Niners are trash and Kap's not surrounded by very much talent, but he's a star. It's becoming clearer and clearer that his real highlights are going to pile up after he leaves the game.