Which Panthers players are viable options this fantasy season?
The Carolina Panthers are set to kickoff the 2024 NFL season, which means many of you either have already drafted or will soon draft your fantasy football rosters. In this article, we’ll take a look at which Panthers, position by position, you should target in the draft, on waivers, or as free agent pickups. I’m basing these recommendations on my own personal feelings about each player’s prospects in terms of fantasy production. Most experts will likely disagree with me on most of my projections.
Quarterback
Bryce Young
Based on last season’s production, it would be wise to avoid Bryce in fantasy football. A new offense and a crisp, efficient drive in the preseason definitely gives me more confidence in his ability to put up numbers. Still, at best Bryce might be a backup quarterback that you only play when your starter is on a bye. He might also be someone to look at if your quarterback gets injured for an extended time. Aside from that, I don’t think he’s worth a roster spot until we see more from him in actual games.
Runningback
Chuba Hubbard
Chuba was the bellcow for much of last season, so it would make sense to take a chance on him this season, especially early in the weeks. He’s not a no brainer to start every week, but if you’re light on runningbacks he could be a nice matchup play. Later on in the year, I expect his production to drop since the Panthers’ second round pick will be ramping up and getting more touches. Speaking of…
Jonathon Brooks
Brooks is still recovering from that knee injury he suffered at Texas last season and is starting the year on the PUP list. He will miss at least the first four games of the season and could be out longer. Still, he might be worth a draft and stash, especially if your league has an IR spot. Once he plays, I expect him to be a focal point of the offense. You don’t take the first back in the draft class to have him be a change of pace guy.
Wide Receiver
Diontae Johnson
Carolina’s biggest off-season acquisition might just be adding Johnson to this offense. He’s in a contract year and will be looking to prove the Steelers wrong for getting rid of him for a bag of oft-injured peanuts. He also seems to have quite a rapport with Bryce Young based on training camp and the one preseason drive we saw. I think Johnson will quickly establish himself as a high end WR2 in most leagues.
Adam Thielen
Thielen caught 100 passes last season despite being about as open as your local Blockbuster. This year, he should have more space to work with. Still, the addition of weapons around Bryce is a bit of a double edged sword for Thielen. He’ll definitely be open more often, but so will the other guys. If you’re in a PPR league, I could see Thielen as a WR2, but otherwise he’s a rotational/matchup play.
Xavier Legette
Man, who knows? Legette has battled injuries throughout camp and the preseason. There hasn’t been much hype around him on the days he did participate, which is concerning. With the excitement around him after the Draft, you’d think the PR machine would be all over every halfway decent play he made. I might draft and stash Legette depending on how many receiver spots I have on my roster, but I’m not likely to risk it overall.
Tight End
Ja’Tavion Sanders
Let me be clear about this: this is completely vibes based. Sanders did seem to have some good rapport with Bryce on that preseason drive, and the coaching staff and beat reporters have been hyping him up quite a bit. He even changed his number to 0, which Dave Canales said he earned. Canales does like to use multiple tight ends, and the Panthers have a couple injured ones right now. Most of the time you wouldn’t even think about a 4th round rookie tight end in a run heavy offense who will be splitting time with multiple veterans. Maybe it’s homerism, but I’ve just got a really good feeling about JT.
Jordan Matthews
Matthews was the only player to catch a touchdown pass from Bryce Young in the preseason. Small sample size, obviously, but he also showed himself to be a viable security blanket for multiple quarterbacks in this offense. I think he can play the same role on your fantasy team as well: if you’re thin at the position due to injuries, Matthews might not be a bad short term play who could snag a touchdown here or there.
Defense/Special Teams
While the Panthers defense finished highly ranked in some metrics last season, they were not the type of defense that racked up fantasy points. This year, the pass rush and pass coverage have arguably gotten worse with the departure of Brian Burns and Dante Jackson and the injury to Dane Jackson. This defense is very much a bend don’t break style of defense, so they likely won’t be turning the ball over or getting the quarterback down very often. Fantasy DST is all about splash plays, and Ejiro Evero’s unit does not have those consistently to warrant picking them up. The only time I would consider adding them would be if they come across a completely inept offense like the 2023 Carolina Panthers.
What do you think Panthers fans? Which Panthers players are you leaning on this year in fantasy football? Any sleepers I missed in the article? Sound off in the comments!