Here's all the evidence needed for which Carolina Panthers WR has to get cut

The Carolina Panthers are going to have to cut a wide receiver who might not deserve it when they're forced to trim the roster down to 53. They have a lot of good ones, but teams just don't carry that many. Six or seven is the absolute maximum, but Carolina might stay at six because they need depth in other spots. Even still, the sixth wide receiver plays very little.

Of course, this is a good problem to have, especially for a young, growing quarterback. It just means that someone is going to get left out, and it's probably going to be someone deserving. Fortunately, there's a painfully obvious candidate that I worry will not get the axe in favor of someone better.

David Moore should be cut by the Panthers

The Carolina Panthers probably did not need to sign David Moore at all. He's a veteran and Dave Canales' guy, but he was not needed, even before the draft. Carolina selected two WRs in the six rounds they picked in and then signed some UDFAs.

The obvious answer is to cut Moore. He's on a cheap, one-year deal, and the Panthers won't miss him. But even beyond that, he's just plain bad. He was awful in 2024, and I'm shocked the Panthers signed him after seeing this stat.

Average Separation Score vs. Targets per Route Run in 2024

Separation doesn't automatically mean a player will earn targets. But they are quite correlated!

ARSB and Jamo are similar as separators, but ARSB has always earned more targets. Will that change in 2025? pic.twitter.com/OLuxsmm5Rg
— Fantasy Points Data (@FantasyPtsData) August 14, 2025

Look at the bottom left quadrant, and you'll see that David Moore had the worst separation in the NFL. The Panthers' WR room last year was generally very bad at separating, and Moore was even worse than the rest of them. The other Panthers on the graph are near the middle.

This should've told the Panthers that re-signing Moore was a bad idea, and it should absolutely mean he's the first WR cut because everyone else on the current roster is either better or has much more upside. Moore should not make it to Week 1.

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