Do the Panthers Need DeAndre Hopkins?
In order to fix the quarterback situation, the Carolina Panthers had to make the difficult decision to give up their top receiver, DJ Moore.
Scott Fitterer and co. have done a pretty good job of replenishing the receiver room by adding veterans Adam Thielen, DJ Chark, and Damiere Byrd and then taking the freakishly athletic Jonathan Mingo in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
There's no doubt about it, the room is in a much better place than it was a year ago.
But is it enough?
Earlier this week, Sal Paolantonio of ESPN stated on radio that the Panthers are "lurking" in the sweepstakes for free agent DeAndre Hopkins. And while that may be true, the Panthers may not have serious interest in the veteran wide receiver. As many others have reported, Fitterer will always look at the logistics and financials of brining in a player, especially one of that caliber. That doesn't necessarily mean something will materialize, though.
In one of the final days of minicamp, head coach Frank Reich expressed his satisfaction with the current group of receivers despite not having a true No. 1 target.
"I obviously wasn't here with DJ but I know he's a great player. I love our room. Anybody who's been around me knows we like to spread the ball around. And we feel like we can do that with this group that we have," stated Reich. "Adam [Thielen] has come in and done a great job. Laviska [Shenault] has looked good. Terrace [Marshall], DJ [Chark], the whole crew. And I think the tight end room has exceeded expectations in many ways, so excited about the skill group."
Sure, it would be nice for rookie Bryce Young to have someone like Hopkins to throw the ball to. However, there are more pressing needs such as another pass rusher and depth at corner, as I stated a couple weeks back. If the Panthers feel like they must go and get Hopkins, they will. They have the cap space to do it.
I just don't know if they'll ever get to that point. Plus, this current mix of receivers offers a lot of versatility and by adding Hopkins, that throws a little bit of a wrench into how much you can really mix things up.
"We want to be different," said Panthers wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson. "We don't want to be just stagnant with people where people can just say, okay, they're going to play here or there. I want to move these guys around because it's an advantage to us. We're all about putting stress on the defense. If we got these guys in multiple positions, they don't know who's getting this ball. What defenses typically do is they say he's the 'X', he's the 'Z', they see these types of formations then they're doing that. But we don't want to do that. We want to be multiple. We want to cause some stress to the defense."
So no, the Panthers don't need DeAndre Hopkins and an offer likely won't be made unless there is general concern about the overall room and at this time, that doesn't appear to be the case.
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