Every summer, as NFL teams prepare to head into their respective training camps, one idiom seems to keep cropping up:
Depth is great until you need it.
In this particular Carolina Panthers offseason, you’d be wise to suggest a slight revision:
Depth is great ... until cut day.
The Charlotte Observer is breaking down each position on the team’s 91-man depth chart ahead of training camp in 2025. Today, we’re looking at the wide receivers — and the suddenly crowded room that will be slimmed down ahead of the regular season.
How many receivers are the Panthers keeping?
Before we list out the receivers and discuss their qualifications and what they could bring to the 2025 Panthers offense, it’s important to address the question:
How many will the Panthers keep?
In 2024, the first offseason of the Dave Canales era, the Panthers kept seven wide receivers on cut day. (They then cut two receivers to make room for two of their six waiver-wire acquisitions.)
In 2023, similarly, the Panthers held onto seven guys. In 2022, same story. That seems to be the league standard. Even by the middle of the 2024 season, the Panthers, led by a former receivers coach in Canales, had seven receivers on the active roster and regularly dressed out six on game days to help with special teams needs.
But even still, with the assumed seven, the Panthers have a lot of decisions to make. Receivers coach Rob Moore told The Observer in May that “this is the best overall wide receiver room I’ve had from a competitive standpoint — no question.”
And that’s true two months later. Take a look at 10 receivers who have a realistic shot at helping the Panthers in 2025.
▪ Xavier Legette: The second-year player is coming off an up-and-down rookie year — drops plagued the wideout in key moments — but getting open was never the issue with him. He’s also coming off foot surgery and will be integral to the Panthers’ offense. Canales said as much all offseason.
▪ Adam Thielen: The 34-year-old Thielen is still wildly productive — and, importantly, he’s been a favorite target for quarterback Bryce Young. He just got a raise, too, to stay in Carolina. He’s great “wherever you spell him out,” as offensive coordinator Brad Idzik would say, but Thielen’s bread and butter has been in the Y spot — in the slot between the tackle and the X or Z wideouts.
▪ Tetairoa McMillan: The No. 8 overall pick for the Panthers this season will be a starter from Day 1, lauded for his athleticism and size and contested-catch ability.
▪ Jalen Coker: Coker was the undrafted rookie story of the year for the Panthers in 2024. After getting cut from the 53-man roster, he returned to the Panthers’ practice squad and then got his chance when Thielen went out with a hamstring injury and capitalized on it. His final stat-line in 11 games: 32 receptions, 478 yards, two touchdowns. He even set the record for most receiving yards by an undrafted rookie in Panthers history.
▪ Hunter Renfrow: The Panthers added a Pro Bowler in Renfrow this offseason. The 29-year-old receiver sat out 2024 after an extended battle with ulcertaive colitis. He feels better now, and has looked sharp and fast in open workouts. He was mixed in with the 1s and 2s during minicamp along the receiving corps; he also got some returner reps during minicamp.
▪ Jimmy Horn Jr.: The sixth-round pick out of Colorado has quickly become a fan favorite, much like Coker was a season ago. He’s quick, flashy, undersized (at 5-foot-8, 170 pounds). He has returner experience. He was in Steve Smith Sr.’s Top 15 ahead of the NFL draft. He missed most of minicamp with a hamstring strain, but when he was on the field, he was eye-popping.
▪ David Moore: The Panthers signed Moore, 30, to another one-year deal with the team after a very good 2024 in which he furnished reliable hands for Young — particularly in the red zone — and in the punt return game. His stats: 17 games played, five starts, 32 receptions, 351 yards, three touchdowns. He has a long history with Canales, who employed Moore in Seattle and Tampa Bay, and delivered when given the chances in 2024. In short: You know what you’re going to get with him.
▪ Dan Chisena: A good special teams player who even caught three passes on four targets in 2024 — one of which was a clutch third-down snag in a close game late against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 16. He only caught three passes in college after being a scholarship track athlete at Penn State before walking on to the team.
▪ Kobe Hudson: The undrafted rookie out of Central Florida is 6-1, 193 pounds who plays much faster than his 4.57-second 40-yard dash might indicate. He’s quietly been impressing during the Panthers’ open workouts, no longer living off his big senior season where he caught 47 receptions, 770 yards and four touchdowns. He’ll have to make some big splashes at training camp — and have to shine through some heralded veterans — to warrant 53-man consideration.
▪ Jacolby George: JG, as the Panthers’ players call him, is another undrafted rookie with a lot of work to do to make the Panthers’ roster.
The team is also entering minicamp with Brycen Tremayne and TJ Luther.
Projected Carolina Panthers wide receiver depth chart
Projected starters: Tetairoa McMillan, Adam Thielen, Xavier Legette
Projected backups: Jalen Coker, Hunter Renfrow
Competition: David Moore, Jimmy Horn Jr., Dan Chisena, Kobe Hudson, Jacolby George.
A prediction: Moore and Horn will advance and make the final 53-man roster come late August. Moore will make it on experience; Horn will make it on his promise; both will be buoyed by their willingness and ability to make a name on special teams. Chisena, Hudson and George will return to the Panthers’ practice squad so long as Hudson and George clear waivers, with Tremayne and Luther heading elsewhere.