Panthers TE Ja’Tavion Sanders Drawing Trade Interest

Entering the third season of his four-year rookie contract, Panthers tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders has drawn recent trade interest. The Panthers discussed Sanders with other teams before last Sunday’s cutdown deadline, a league source told Joseph Person of The Athletic.

While Sanders is on track to begin the season in Carolina, Person doesn’t rule out teams continuing to pursue the 23-year-old. He is currently one of five tight ends on the Panthers’ 53-man roster. The team added to an already crowded bunch when it signed Darren Waller on Aug. 12. The quintet also includes Tommy Tremble, Mitchell Evans and core special-teamer Feleipe Franks. General manager Dan Morgan and head coach Dave Canales are content to keep all of them.

“Right now we’re committed. Not to say that something couldn’t change. I don’t know what the future holds,” Morgan said (via Person). “But I know coach Canales has a plan for each and every one of those guys. What he does with them on game day is yet to be seen. But right now we feel good about it.”

Canales leaned on three tight ends during the Panthers’ NFC South-winning effort in 2025. Tremble led the group with a 59.94% offensive snap share, while Sanders and Evans were each on the field for 37.04% of plays. Sanders would have logged more action over a full season, but a high ankle sprain and a broken fibula held him to 13 games. The fibula injury led to a late-December IR placement for Sanders, who missed the Panthers’ regular-season finale and their wild-card round loss to the Rams.

A fourth-round pick in 2024, Sanders recorded modest numbers over his first two seasons, though he did catch 80.5% of targets in that span. After hauling in 33 passes for 342 yards and a touchdown during a 16-game rookie campaign, the former Texas Longhorn totaled 29 receptions for 190 yards and a score last year. That production may not be especially difficult to replace if the TE-heavy Panthers ship Sanders elsewhere, but Morgan noted “he definitely has a lot of value for us.”