Is this Panthers fan’s jersey collection ‘cursed’? It sure caught some players’ attention

Brandon Ostin had an idea. A good one, in fact. But before he could act on it, he had to verify something of utmost importance with his wife.

“Did I keep my Kelvin Benjamin jersey?”

Ostin, a Charlotte native and a lifelong Carolina Panthers fan, asked because he noticed that he had a deep collection of Panthers jerseys — but none of them were of players who are still with the franchise. His Luke Kuechly jersey is hung on his wall. His two Jeremy Chinn jerseys, his DJ Moore jersey and a handful of others with varying colors and styles are all in a closet serving as relics of a bygone era. A Benjamin jersey would complete the set and further validate a faux fear he’s had for a long time:

Is my jersey collection ... a curse?

Ostin decided to make a video about it. The idea: to wear all nine of his Panthers jerseys layered on top of one another, and to take them off one-by-one as he narrates how and why the players departed the team in such quick succession. Ostin placed his iPhone on the windowsill of his downstairs den, pressed record — and in one unscripted take, he articulated all the ups and downs that Panthers fans have persevered through during the past decade, starting with when Steve Smith was released by the Panthers in March 2014.

“I was like, ‘Well, I should make a video of this, with all my jerseys on,’” Ostin told The Charlotte Observer. He laughed, “I did not intend for it to blow up.”

But blow up, it did.

As of Tuesday evening, six days after posting the video on his Instagram page, the video has seemed to strike a chord with the grieving fan base. The viral video has over 639,000 views and just about 53,000 likes. It’s also accrued more than 25,000 shares and more than 1,100 comments — and some of the commenters were Panthers players themselves.

“Please don’t buy my jersey,” team punter Johnny Hekker commented in jest.

Jeremy Chinn — one of Ostin’s favorite players, which was reflected in the fact that he had two versions of the safety’s jersey because of a purchasing mix-up — also commented. His words: “2?? I didn’t stand a chance.”

(Chinn, of course, found a new home with the Washington Commanders in free agency last month.)

“The inner and outer fan in me got very excited,” Ostin said, when he saw the players respond. His video, although a remark on the troubling state of the franchise, was positive and possessed a good humor — and it was good that many of the comments mirrored that, he said. Not all did, of course, but such is the internet in 2024.

“I think I instantly texted my cousin, who’s a big NFL fan,” Ostin continued. “My wife (Mikayla) was right here next to me, and I said, ‘Look who just commented.’ ... My friends and family, they know that I’m a big Jeremy Chinn fan. He was one of those players I wanted to stick around for a very long time. Not that I don’t want that for Johnny Hekker or any of the other players, but Jeremy Chinn, I really liked him.”

Ostin, 30, was born in Charlotte. His first memory of being a Panthers fan came when he was 5, he said, when his mother, who worked at Bank of America, scored tickets to a preseason game against the Jaguars in what was then known as Ericsson Stadium.

His family moved to Carson City, Nevada, when he was 8, but his Panthers fandom persisted. Sometime before graduating high school in 2011, he and his friends picked up fantasy football, and he went all in on drafting Panthers players. (“As you can imagine, I wasn’t too good at fantasy back then,” he said.)

But soon, the team started getting good. Cam Newton was Superman and Greg Olsen and Steve Smith were his wing men and Kuechly was the “dawg” the Panthers are searching to replicate now. He purchased NFL Ticket on DirecTV and hasn’t missed a game in years, he said.

Ostin works for First Digital Telecom and now lives in Springville, Utah, about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City, where he met his wife and made a home. It’s not exactly a Panthers hotbed. He recalled one time seeing someone wearing a Panthers hat at a Christmas tree lighting a few years ago and nearly being compelled to make a scene to say hello.

“We don’t have a team out here, mostly, so we get a lot of Broncos fans,” he said. “So that 2015 season (and Super Bowl loss) really hurt. Those guys, they don’t let me forget it. It is what it is. We’ll get back, one day. I just tell everybody: ‘It took Tom Brady and Peyton Manning to beat us in the Super Bowl because we’re just that good.’”

Ostin’s only been to one regular season Panthers game. That one was in 2019, when the Panthers fell to the 49ers, 51-13, on the road. But his Panthers fandom hasn’t wavered. He had a total of nine jerseys when he posted his video. He’s since purchased three more — a Bryce Young jersey, a Jaycee Horn jersey and a Hekker jersey (with Hekker’s permission, to be sure; Ostin asked Hekker for permission via Instagram direct message).

Ostin is optimistic about this year’s team, as he tends to be every year. He likes the energy of new head coach Dave Canales and the “new-school” offense he could usher in — one of deep passes and excitement and creativity. He’s inclined to be skeptical of any general manager, but it’s tough to be, he says, with a Panthers legend like Dan Morgan at the helm.

And to the fans who suggest he get a new team, to save himself from the heartache, Ostin responds with a shrug and smile: “That’s not how this works.”

Ostin plans on attending his second game this upcoming season when the Panthers travel to play the Las Vegas Raiders, whose stadium is only a five-hour drive from Springville.

And what jersey will Ostin wear?

He’s discussed that with his wife, too.

“Would everyone think I was crazy if I put the Bryce Young jersey on while we’re on offense, and I put the Jaycee Horn jersey on when we’re on defense, and I put the Hekker jersey on when we’re punting?” Ostin asked.

Maybe a little.

But Ostin, like the Carolina Panthers franchise, has a curse to break.

“Especially the Panthers fans that said Bryce Young’s a bust, I hope he proves them wrong,” he said.

He then chuckled: “And I kind of need him to, because I got his jersey.”