The Carolina Panthers are coming off a 2025 season in which they won the NFC South for the first time in over 10 years. They did so virtue of a tiebreaker and a 8-9 record. So yeah, there will be doubters this season.
For Dave Canales, his staff has had the chance to evaluate the roster for the past few weeks in training camp. But they have also suffered some tough injuries early on this training camp.
One area the Panthers are looking to address is at tight end. The Panthers have some room to improve and the latest report states that they are planning to sign veteran Darren Waller to the roster. That report came out on Wednesday, but as of Thursday night, the signing hasn't been completed.
According to Joe Person of The Athletic, the Panthers are planning to sign Waller on Monday, pending a physical. The team is traveling to Buffalo for a preseason game on Saturday, and it makes more sense to do it when they return. It allows them to have some more flexibility in terms of a roster spot and who they could cut.
The addition of Waller could be important for this offense. But he's been a free agent up until now for a reason. That reason? We don't know. But we do know why the Panthers are intrigued by the idea.
"Just looking for ways to challenge our roster, challenge our rooms," Canales told reporters. "Bringing different types of talent into the rooms to really challenge the group and see what we have there."
As it stands now, Carolina's tight end room features Tommy Tremble, Mitchell Evans, Ja'Tavion Sanders, Feleipe Franks, James Mitchell and Caden Prieskorn. I imagine one of those six would be waived to make room for the addition of Waller after the weekend.
After retiring following the 2023 season, Waller sat out of 2024 before signing with the Miami Dolphins last season. He appeared in nine games, starting three of them and catching 24 receptions for 283 yards and six touchdowns. A pretty good output for a player who was retired before.
Let's hope it works out well for the Panthers and can boost the offense.