After a year away from football, Carolina native Hunter Renfrow is ready to get back to the grind with the Panthers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Hunter Renfrow started to feel like something was wrong during the 2021 Pro Bowl.

Despite experiencing a career year with the Raiders, Renfrow says he was battling constant fatigue at the end of the season.

Things escalated when he arrived at fall training camp in 2022.

“I just felt as bad as I could,” Renfrow said. “Really over the last two years of my Raider career I was just trying to piece it together, just trying to make it.”

Renfrow eventually received a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, an auto immune disease that can cause intense inflammation of the bowels.

He says there were moments where he considered walking away from the game of football entirely.

“I felt like I’d let my teammates down so much,” Renfrow said. “I was just a dud. I was like ‘Man, I know I don’t feel well but I do not want to play football again.’”

The Raiders released him following the 2023 season, and he spent all of 2024 getting his health in order before attempting a comeback to the NFL.

Renfrow says around March or April of last year, he dropped to 150 pounds and went to the emergency room a few times for treatment.

But after receiving a new treatment, he says he started to feel better for the first time in years. That’s when he was able to wrap his mind around a return to football.

In the meantime, he enjoyed the free time that comes from a break from the game.

“It was awesome,” Renfrow said. “It’s good to reset sometimes, and kind of get healthy... I got to spend a lot of time with my two daughters, spent a lot of time with my wife.”

During his year off, Renfrow says he bought in to a company called ESS Industrial in Woodruff, S.C. as head of the business development department.

“It was cool because [I] was part of a team,” Renfrow said. “Even though it was not a locker room, you still get guys working for a common goal, you still get competitive juices going.”

Renfrow also attended the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship Pro-Am during his year away from the game.

That’s where he met Adam Thielen.

“I remember telling him, ‘If I could ever get back to Carolina, that would be a dream for me,’” Renfrow said.

Two days after the 2025 NFL Draft ended, that dream came true for Renfrow.

The Carolina Panthers signed him to a free agent contract in hopes of adding a veteran presence to a notably youthful position in the locker room.

The thing he missed most while being away from the game?

Showing up when he doesn’t feel like it.

“It is a good accomplishment to do something hard,” Renfrow said. “I’m looking forward to getting back to the grind mode of ‘I really don’t want to go out there, but I’m going to go and make it a great day.’”

Renfrow will officially return to the field for the first time when the Panthers open organized team activities (OTAs) starting on May 27 before the team’s mandatory minicamp begin on June 10.