Panthers given vital mandate by NFL insider for remainder of 2025 offseason

The Carolina Panthers may have made a lot of moves, but there is still time to do more. Their roster is largely set, but they can make a few small additions as well as work with what's already there. Doing so will only make them better.

Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox believes Carolina has three tasks to accomplish before Week 1 in Jacksonville. First, and perhaps most important, is to determine the WR order in a trial by fire with plenty of participants.

Carolina added Tetairoa McMillan, Hunter Renfrow, Jacolby George, and Jimmy Horn Jr. to an already fairly full WR room this offseason. Now, those players will compete against Xavier Legette, Adam Thielen, David Moore, and Jalen Coker for the six or so WR spots on the roster.

"It'll be up to head coach Dave Canales to set up a receiver competition—one that involves the new additions, veteran Adam Thielen, and 2024 first-round pick Xavier Legette—that will yield the best possible receiving corps," Knox argued.

Second, Knox believes the Panthers should extend Ikem Ekwonu. The left tackle had his fifth-year option picked up, so he's not expiring this year, but he's still eligible for an extension. "While the 2022 first-round pick hasn't established himself as an elite tackle yet, he was a quality starter in 2024. Pro Football Focus graded him 38th overall among all tackles," Knox added. "With other young tackles like Rashawn Slater and Charles Cross likely to receive extensions in the near future, getting ahead of the market with Ekwonu would be advisable."

Finally, Knox believes the cornerback position remains in need of bolstering. Whether that's by trade or by signing a free agent like Jaire Alexander, the insider thinks it must be done. "Defensively, the Panthers should consider adding a free-agent cornerback like Jaire Alexander or Stephon Gilmore... It extended cornerback Jaycee Horn, but it could afford to add more pieces to its pass defense after ranking 30th in net yards per pass attempt allowed last season," he concluded.

Doing all three of these things is not all that probable, but they are all easy tasks to accomplish. Signing the cornerback is the hardest, but those veterans have sat on the market for a while. The WR competition would be easy, as would extending Ekwonu for the most part. The question is if Carolina agrees that they need to do all this.

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