In his first two NFL seasons, Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young targeted wide receiver Adam Thielen considerably more often than any other pass-catcher. Thielen was the intended target on 180 of Young’s 836 pass attempts, giving him 91 more targets than the next-closest player (Jonathan Mingo).
Thielen was also targeted at a high rate on a per-route basis, with the ball going his way 21.5% of the time he went out for a pass, according to Tru Media. The next-closest player in that metric was Xavier Legette, who was far behind at 17.5%.
Thielen, though, might not be around for Young’s third season. Rumors surfaced on Friday that the Panthers and Minnesota Vikings were engaged on discussions to send Thielen back to Minnesota amid the Vikings’ injury and suspension issues among their wide receiver corps.
Given that Young has looked Thielen’s way so much more often than anyone else’s, it’s worth asking whether the Panthers would still be putting him in position for success if they were to deal him away. And while it remains to be seen whether Young will actually carry over some of the success he had over the second half of last season, I think the answer this time around would be yes.
That is thanks first and foremost to first-round pick Tetairoa McMillan, whom the Panthers selected with the No. 8 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft and who gives the Panthers a true X receiver. He’s a big, physical player who can win both in tight spaces on the perimeter and with the ball in his hands when he catches it on the move.
Vikings have reached out to Panthers about trading for wide receiver Adam Thielen, per report
Jordan Dajani
He was wildly productive during his time at Arizona, and we’ve already seen him put together some nice grabs during the preseason. The Panthers almost certainly wouldn’t be willing to move on from Thielen if they didn’t think that McMillan was ready to be Young’s top target.
It helps that Carolina likely also has a ready-made replacement in the slot. When Thielen missed time due to injuries last season, undrafted free agent Jalen Coker stepped into the lineup and fared well for himself. He caught 17 passes for 263 yards and a touchdown across Weeks 5 through 10, then hauled in 15 more for 215 yards and a touchdown in the final four games of the season after he returned to the lineup following a three-game absence.
It was on a minuscule sample of just 170 routes, but Coker also averaged 1.85 yards per route run out of the slot last year, per Tru Media, which ranked 32nd out of 144 rookies with 150-plus routes during their rookie season over the last 10 years. He can win from that area of the field.
The presence of those two players should also allow Xavier Leggette to slide into a role that better suits his skill set. Leggette was miscast last year in the X receiver role, as evidenced by the fact that he caught just three of 17 tight-window targets for only 34 yards, according to NFL Pro. Those 17 tight-window targets were also more than 20% of his total looks, as he was targeted 84 times on the year. Giving Leggette freer releases off the line as the Z/flanker receiver and allowing him to get going either straight down the field or on crossing routes makes for a much cleaner fit than what the Panthers had him doing a year ago.
Throw in tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders, who has been drawing strong reviews out of camp, and there is at least something here for Young to work with, whether Thielen is in the mix or not. It’s not an amazing group of receivers by any means, but it’s certainly not one where the Panthers are setting him up to fail by dealing away the only real veteran they have among the pass-catching corps.
This news was originally published on this post .
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