Who will lead the Carolina Panthers' receiving game for the 2024 NFL season?

The Carolina Panthers went out of their way to upgrade their wide receiver corps this offseason. Will it pay off with results, and who will be their new number one option?

CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 18: Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson (18) during an NFL football game between the Pittsburg Steelers and the Carolina Panthers on December 18, 2022 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. / (Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Going into the 2024 NFL offseason, the Carolina Panthers knew they had to radically upgrade their wide receiver room, which ranked as one of the NFL's worst the previous year. While there's still some work to be done, this unit is looking far better on paper now than it was going into last season. They did this by making two big moves.

First at the start of free agency, they pulled off a trade for Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson. Later, they traded up to the end of the first round of the draft to take South Carolina stud Xavier Legette. Together they should dramatically boost the ceiling for a unit that's underperformed for a long time. But which one of them will take charge of this wide receiver room and become Bryce Young's number one target?

Let's see what ESPN is projecting for this wide receiver room going into the new season. Here are the projections for Carolina's top-five, per Mike Clay.

Panthers 2024 wide receiver projections

- Diontae Johnson: 117 targets, 72 catches, 989 yards, 6 touchdowns

- Adam Thielen: 100 targets, 74 catches, 709 yards, 5 touchdowns

- Xavier Legette: 77 targets, 48 catches, 627 yards, 3 touchdowns.

- Jonathan Mingo: 49 target, 28 catches, 365 yards, 2 touchdowns

- David Moore: 16 targets, 10 catches, 122 yards, 1 touchdown

Interesting stuff. You'd have to think the Panthers would like it if Legette could surpass Thielen in his first year, but that's no guarantee. Sometimes it takes new receivers to build a chemistry with their new quarterback, but Johnson seems to be ahead of the competition in that department. Time will tell if someone else can catch up.

August 12

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