How Losing Chris Brazzell Affects Panthers WRs in Fantasy Football

Brazzell's season-ending injury will affect Tetairoa McMillan and Jalen Coker in different ways.

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Another day of training camp, and another injury for the Carolina Panthers. The latest preseason casualty is a rookie who's shown great upside: 3rd-round receiver Chris Brazzell II. Brazzell had been a standout at camp in the days he participated, but even before the LCL tear suffered on Wednesday, he missed a few days of camp because of left knee pain.

The news for Brazzell is unfortunate. After an initial eight-week timetable, he's decided to undergo season-ending surgery. He won't play this year. It's a tough loss for the depth of this Carolina receiving room.

In terms of fantasy football, Brazzell's injury raises questions about the remaining healthy receiving core.

Fantasy Football Analyst Breaks Down Implication of Chris Brazzell's Injury

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The first thought for fantasy football managers around the country is how Tetairoa McMillan will be affected by this. Luckily, Fantasy Sports On SI writer Austin Swaim broke it down purely from a fantasy perspective.

As everyone should, Swaim starts with how Tetairoa McMillan will be affected and brings up a great quote from Dave Canales that we've touched on before as well.

Swaim is correct when saying that McMillan will always be the focal point of this Carolina offense. That doesn't change now because of Brazzell's injury. What does change is where McMillan will line up on the field, and how often he'll move from the outside to the slot.

Canales: Chris Brazzell’s size and speed will allow Panthers to use Tetairoa McMillan more in the slot this year. pic.twitter.com/OAfmApyR2o

— Joe Person (@josephperson) July 24, 2026

Brazzell being out now nixes that plan for McMillan, at least until we see if Xavier Legette can do what Brazzell was doing. Even if McMillan is on the outside more, he's still very capable of thriving in that spot, which showed throughout a stellar rookie season. McMillan finished the year with five games posting over 16 fantasy points in 2025.

McMillan is being drafted in the third round in 10- and 12-man leagues after finishing 2025 as the WR15.

This doesn't change McMillan's stock at all; there won't be a huge drop-off in draft position, and if anything, this will either make McMillan be targeted just as much, or even more. The only slight concern is that Swaim rightfully highlights is the potential for a slower start to the season.

As for Jalen Coker, the best-case scenario is that the end-of-season production from 2025 continues. In the final seven weeks of the season, Coker posted four games with over 11 fantasy points, and two of those games eclipsed 16.

Coker is projected to be drafted around the 10th to 14th rounds in most drafts. In my best-case scenario piece for fantasy-relevant Panthers, Coker's ceiling was slated as a high-end flex or low-end WR2. That doesn't change with Brazzell's injury.

Carolina should feature Coker more in the passing game after his stellar end to the 2025 season. Since the same three receivers will start the season this year, the Panthers should just go back to the well with what worked at the end of 2025, and that was targeting Coker.

What to Expect from Xavier Legette This Season

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Another likely correct projection from Swaim: Xavier Legette is going to go undrafted in most leagues. The former 2024 first-round pick posted only three games with over 11 fantasy points last season, and only one of those games eclipsed 20 points. Not only was there a lack of good games, but Legette had nine games with four or fewer fantasy points.

Legette has slimmed down entering this season, dropping roughly nine pounds. Hopefully, this will help bring back Legette's burst and downfield ability. That being said, no one should be drafting him or starting him in the early weeks of the season; there's just no reliability there.

All in all, McMillan could be the most affected for the first few weeks of the season, but this does not change any receiver's draft stock. It could, however, make Legette a stash pick in very deep leagues since he'll presumably be WR3 all year.