Three ways Panthers can build a respectable WR room for Bryce Young

It’s no secret that adding a legitimate No. 1 wideout for second-year quarterback Bryce Young is at the top of Carolina Panthers general manager Dan Morgan’s to-do list.

Young endured a tumultuous rookie season in which he was sacked 62 times (the second-most by a rookie QB), his No. 1 receiver was 33-year-old Adam Thielen, who had 70 catches or fewer in three of his previous four seasons, and his head coach was fired 11 games into the year.

But after cleaning house and hiring a new GM and head coach, Dave Canales, the Panthers’ sole task is surrounding Young with enough talent to become a competitive team — an endeavor that starts with finding the 22-year-old a go-to target. 

Here’s how Carolina can give Young a respectable wide receiver room this offseason:

Create cap flexibility

The Panthers have roughly $26.67 million in cap space, and if they plan to improve their WR corps, they’ll need more funds to do so while also addressing other areas of need. Carolina can restructure offensive tackle Taylor Moton’s contract to free up $8.145M and create an additional $8.43M by extending defensive tackle Derrick Brown. With two transactions, the Panthers would jump to $43.25M in cap space.

Hit the free-agent market

D.J. Chark and Laviska Shenault are free agents, leaving the Panthers with Thielen, 2023 second-round pick Jonathan Mingo and 23-year-old Terrace Marshall Jr. — all solid depth options, but none belong at the top of the depth chart.

With the cap room created by the Moton and Brown moves above, Carolina should pursue one of the top remaining free-agent WRs, such as Marquise Brown, Curtis Samuel or Tyler Boyd.

Brown is the biggest swing on the list, but he’s worth a shot. He’s had 100 or more targets in four straight seasons and scored 28 touchdowns in five years. Brown can handle the workload of a No. 1 receiver, and his projected market value of $14.8M per year is completely doable.

Boyd has two 1,000-yard seasons under his belt and 90 or more targets in five of his last six seasons. His market value is the most affordable ($8.7M per year according to Spotrac), and he could step in immediately as Carolina’s No. 2 guy.

Samuel is the biggest wild card of the three, given that he’s already had a stint with the Panthers from 2017 to 2020. However, if the team threw enough money at him, it likely wouldn’t matter. His projected market value is $11.5M annually, which isn’t bad for a bonafide No. 2 receiver. 

Samuel has had 90 or more targets in four of the last five seasons (minus an injury-shortened 2021), and he can be the kind of stabilizing presence needed in Carolina right now.

Package picks to move up into Round 1

With Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., LSU’s Malik Nabers and Washington’s Rome Odunze likely coming off the board in the top 10, Carolina has to make sure it picks the right spot to land one of the wideouts in the second tier like LSU’s Brian Thomas Jr., Florida State’s Keon Coleman and South Carolina’s Xavier Legette.

The Arizona Cardinals are likely to draft Harrison Jr. with the No. 4 overall pick, and they might be tempted to move out of their second first-round selection (No. 27 overall) if they can acquire additional picks.

Perhaps the Panthers could package picks No. 33 (second round) and 100 (fourth round) to move up into Arizona’s No. 27 pick to land its receiver, leaving them pick No. 39 to draft an offensive lineman to protect Young?

At 6-foot-3, 227 pounds, Legette has drawn comparisons to Philadelphia Eagles WR A.J. Brown. At the combine, he ran a 4.39 40-yard dash, so he’s got the speed to outrun the defense while racking up yards after the catch.

Coleman is arguably the most underrated playmaker of the 2024 receivers. He has prototypical NFL size (6-foot-4, 215 pounds) and his college tape is littered with highlight-reel catches. Among receivers with 80 or more targets this season, he was tied for the lowest drop rate (0%) and ranked seventh in touchdowns (11), per Pro Football Focus.

Thomas Jr. also has good size (6-foot-4, 205 pounds), wins his share of jump balls and could be an ideal red-zone target. Even with a loaded LSU receiver group that featured Nabers and Kyren Lacy, Thomas Jr. still led the country in touchdown catches (17) while putting up 68 receptions and 1,177 yards.

Heading into 2024 with a depth chart that reads Brown, Coleman, Thielen, Mingo and Marshall Jr. is much better than what the Panthers are currently looking at.