The Carolina Panthers know who their quarterback is, what their offensive line will look like and who they’ll be relying on in the backfield.
They even know to expect a difficult decision — or decisions — in the wide receiver group come cut day in late August.
But one that’s still a bit up in the air is the tight end group. And that’s the subject of The Charlotte Observer’s latest positional series entry as training camp approaches later this month.
Here’s the state of the team’s tight end depth chart.
What is Tommy Tremble’s timeline for return? And who could start in his place?
The Carolina Panthers have three tight ends that they drafted on their roster right now. And the oldest of the three is the guy who’s making the situation a bit uncertain.
Tommy Tremble, the Panthers’ third-round pick in 2021, entered the summer as the understood front-runner for the starting position. He was coming off a good conclusion to the 2024 season — even if a hamstring injury lingered and limited snaps earlier in the year — and signed a two-year deal up to $16 million as a result.
But in May, that front-runner status was dampened a bit. Head coach Dave Canales announced that the 25-year-old tight end underwent successful back surgery. At the time, the team expected Tremble to be ready to rehab by training camp in July and that he’d be evaluated from there. Canales told reporters at the time, “We were kind of thinking about it, talking about it, looking at timelines and stuff like that, and we just felt like for him — he’s 25 years old — let’s get this while he’s young and strong and just be able to get him on the right track.”
It’s possible the team elects to put Tremble on the physically unable to perform list come training camp and then to activate him to the team’s 91-man training camp roster when ready. It’s also possible that he’s ready to go quickly enough to avoid such a transaction.
If it sounds like his timeline is murky, it’s because it is.
That news is unfortunate considering Tremble, when healthy, has consistently gotten better. In 2024, he caught 23 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns in 12 games played. That yardage total is a career high; that reception total is a tied-for-career-high ... from 2023, in 16 games played. He’s also developed into the reliable blocker he was touted to be coming out of the draft. And for a run-first team that uses a lot of 21 personnel — a formation with two tight ends and one tailback — which guarantees a lot of offensive snaps.
The good news, however, is that even without Tremble, the Panthers are set up nicely at the position.
Ja’Tavion Sanders is entering a sophomore campaign after a really good rookie one. He recorded 33 receptions for 342 yards and one touchdown — the most receiving yards by a rookie tight end in Panthers history — and that’s while missing a game and a half after a scary neck injury sent him to the hospital against the Chiefs. In open workouts, Sanders looked in shape and poised for a jump in his second season.
The other tight end of the trio is Mitchell Evans, the tight end out of Notre Dame who the Panthers took in the fifth round of this year’s draft. He’s 6-foot-5 and 258 pounds of coordination and strength — the most physically imposing of Sanders (6-foot-4, 252) and Tremble (6-foot-4, 249). In his final season which featured a run to the national championship game, Evans recorded 43 receptions for 421 yards and three touchdowns in 16 games played.
Panthers’ projected tight end depth chart
The projected starter: Tommy Tremble.
Projected backups: Ja’Tavion Sanders, Mitchell Evans.
The competition: Bryce Pierre, James Mitchell and Dominique Dafney are all going to use training camp to prove they are worth a spot on the roster — and depending on Tremble’s availability, that could come to fruition. Practice squad spots are also on the line. And don’t think practice squad tight ends don’t get their names called later on in the season. A shining example of such was Feleipe Franks, the Florida Gators QB-turned-TE who was waived on cut day last year but turned into a special teams ace the team relied on as the year wore on. Franks is now with the Falcons.