{"id":899578,"date":"2026-05-24T02:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T02:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/899578\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T02:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T02:30:14","slug":"nfl-free-agency-panthers-implored-to-sign-offensive-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/899578\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL free agency: Panthers implored to sign offensive weapon"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 23, 2026, 5:15 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

The Carolina Panthers<\/a> have tried to make life on quarterback Bryce Young a little easier heading into the 2026 campaign. He’ll have a few new hog mollies, two of which are expected to compete<\/a> for the left tackle position, and some potentially exciting pass catchers\u2014including a former college teammate<\/a> and speedy third-round pick<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But maybe they’re not quite done adding around Young.<\/p>\n

Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox recently came up with one move every NFL team should make<\/a> in the remaining weeks of the offseason. For the Panthers, he suggests signing an offensive weapon:<\/p>\n

The Carolina Panthers are entering another evaluation year with quarterback Bryce Young. Unfortunately for Young, the Panthers didn’t do quite enough to improve his supporting cast this offseason.<\/p>\n

Carolina did draft offensive lineman\u00a0Monroe Freeling\u00a0and wide receiver\u00a0Chris Brazzell II. However, the Panthers haven’t adequately replaced running back Rico Dowdle and still lack a quality pass-catching tight end.<\/p>\n

Knox goes on to mention five possible targets\u2014running backs Najee Harris and Antonio Gibson and tight ends Taysom Hill, Jonnu Smith and Darren Waller.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Carolina’s backfield may be set. Even with the loss of Dowdle, the Panthers are expected to roll out 2024 second-rounder Jonathon Brooks\u2014who missed all of 2025 with a second ACL tear\u2014alongside Chuba Hubbard.<\/p>\n

Tight end, however, may be a different story. The group is not comprised of the most productive receivers in the league, and could use a more dynamic threat in the passing game.<\/p>\n

Smith is amongst the most capable tight ends after the catch while Waller, after a year off, scored six touchdowns for Miami this past season. Hill, as we’ve seen for nearly a decade in New Orleans, might be an interesting option if head coach Dave Canales wants a gadget to work with.<\/p>\n

Ahead of organized team activities, which are set to begin Tuesday, the Panthers’ tight end room features Tommy Tremble, Ja’Tavion Sanders, Mitchell Evans, James Mitchell, Feleipe Franks and Heinrich Haarberg.<\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0@ThePanthersWire<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter\/X for more Panthers content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May 23, 2026, 5:15 p.m. ET The Carolina Panthers have tried to make life on quarterback Bryce Young…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[95878,235,260,2567,7,6,236,119367,97114,97115,95882,109476,96165,96059,101058,96511,114084,98150,100684,99268,98342,99156,95896,95888,95895,95899,97040,95883,102107,95881],"class_list":["post-899578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-carolina-panthers","tag-accessfree","tag-carolina","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-carolinapanthers","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-panthers","tag-sourcepanthers-wire","tag-sstssportsnflpanthers","tag-sstsnpanthers","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagantonio-gibson","tag-tagbryce-young","tag-tagcarolina-panthers","tag-tagdarren-waller","tag-tagdave-canales","tag-tagfeleipe-franks","tag-tagjatavion-sanders","tag-tagjames-mitchell","tag-tagjonathon-brooks","tag-tagjonnu-smith","tag-tagnajee-harris","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagrico-dowdle","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagtaysom-hill","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899578","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=899578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}