{"id":855290,"date":"2026-04-05T15:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/855290\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T15:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:28:15","slug":"panthers-missing-piece-is-still-available-and-its-the-one-thing-they-didnt-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/855290\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers\u2019 missing piece is still available and it\u2019s the one thing they didn\u2019t fix"},"content":{"rendered":"

For all the money the Carolina Panthers spent this offseason, one of their longest-running problems still hasn\u2019t truly been addressed. And somehow, as free agency winds down, the exact type of player they\u2019ve been missing<\/a> is still available: tight end David Njoku.<\/p>\n

And CBS Sports analyst Garrett Podell pointed to Carolina as Njoku\u2019s ideal landing spot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Njoku\u2019s 2025 season with the Cleveland Browns was derailed by knee injuries, and rookie Harold Fannin Jr. quickly became a favorite target for quarterback Shedeur Sanders. The veteran slid down the pecking order, and by season\u2019s end, the writing was on the wall.<\/p>\n

But when healthy, Njoku is still one of the league\u2019s best matchup problem-solvers. Carolina\u2019s red zone issues last season were rooted in one simple reality: they don\u2019t have a tight end who scares defenses. To generate middle field action, they\u2019ve had to scheme crossing routes from their outside receivers instead of forcing safeties to respect a seam threat.<\/p>\n

Carolina Panthers could still use tight end help, and David Njoku ticks the boxes<\/p>\n

Njoku changes that math immediately.\u00a0Tommy Tremble, Ja’Tavion Sanders, and Mitchell Evans have all flashed at times. They\u2019re solid players. But none of them are coverage dictators.<\/p>\n

Sanders is coming off ankle surgery. Tremble is more valuable as a blocker and role player. Evans is developmental. There is no true receiving tight end who forces defensive adjustments. Njoku is.<\/p>\n

On the surface, it feels like the Panthers are out of money. They handed out major deals to Jaelan Phillips<\/a>, Devin Lloyd, and others, yet still sit just just $2.21 million under the cap. But there are moves to make.<\/p>\n

Through restructures, backloaded deals, and creative cap work, general manager Dan Morgan has left just enough flexibility for one more meaningful move if he wants it.\u00a0At this stage, Njoku is far more likely to be a cheap, short-term investment than a premium one. Exactly the kind of player the Panthers have quietly targeted all offseason.<\/p>\n

Before the NFL Scouting Combine, many projections had Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq<\/a> as a logical target. Now? His stock has exploded, and he may be gone in the top 10.<\/p>\n

Signing Njoku removes the pressure to force the position in the draft. Carolina could truly go best prospect available at wide receiver, defensive line, linebacker, edge, or safety without worrying about reaching for need.<\/p>\n

Njoku is about to turn 30. He\u2019s battled injuries. He\u2019s no longer priced like a top-tier tight end. But his skillset hasn\u2019t disappeared. And Carolina\u2019s tight end need hasn\u2019t either.<\/p>\n

The Panthers have spent the entire offseason building around quarterback Bryce Young. This is the one move still sitting there that would complete the picture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For all the money the Carolina Panthers spent this offseason, one of their longest-running problems still hasn\u2019t truly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-855290","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116352811460613272","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}