This player should be the Carolina Panthers' top target in free agency.
When it comes to the 2024 NFL season, the Carolina Panthers overperformed expectations.
Now granted, the team was still bad, sometimes comically so, with darn near every team having Bryce Young mock traded to them when Carolina decided to bench him midseason, but against all odds, Dave Canales' team finished with a respectable 5-12 record.
Goodness, after looking like a borderline lock to pick first overall before the season began, the Panthers didn't even finish out the year with the worst record in their division, with the New Orleans Saints also trapped in the NFC South's basement for the next few months as they look to re-tool just about everything.
Now sitting pretty with the eighth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft plus roughly $21.6 million in cap space according to Over The Cap, the Panthers have a chance to take another step forward in 2025 if they make the right moves, sign the right players who can help now, and select the sort of talent that can headline the franchise for years to come.
But what should they do, and how should they allocate their resources? Granted, they have two of the most important positions in football locked up, with Young turning the corner to look like a true franchise quarterback and Derrick Brown returning as the team's defensive anchor in 2025. Factor in a few more top-tier talents like Chuba Hubbard, Damien Lewis, Ikem Ekwonu, and Jaycee Horn, and the Panthers could be a few key players away from really being a fun team to watch in 2025, with the potential for playoffs coming in 2026, maybe even as soon as January if everything shakes out their way.
But first, the Panthers need to find their guy to take Young up a notch on the way to his NFL potential, which might just be a certain do-it-all receiver with connections to the Carolina from his time at Clemson: Tee Higgins.
1. Tee Higgins can be Dave Canales' new Mike Evans
A big reason why Dave Canales turned Baker Mayfield into a $100 million quarterback in Tampa Bay was the presence of perennial 1,000-yard wide receiver Mike Evans, who made the pride of Oklahoma's life a whole heck of a lot easier due to his do-it-all game.
Standing 6-foot-5 with long arms, functional deep speed, and an ability to effectively operate in the red zone as an absolute weapon, Evans had one of his best seasons as a pro under Canales, catching 79 of the 136 passes thrown his way for 1,255 yards and an incredible 13 touchdowns. Evans made it to the Pro Bowl, was named an All-Pro, and finished out the season tied for the most touchdowns in the league with Tyreek Hill of the Dolphins under Canales' coaching and didn't look nearly as effective with Liam Coen calling players for him in 2024, albeit as he suffered through a string of injuries.
While Canales was brought in to make Young into the next Mayfield, he was also hired to get production out of a wide receiver corps that had plenty of high-profile draft selections but no proven players except for 34-year-old Adam Thielen. The former wide receiver coach with the Seahawks did his best with what he was given but ended up with just one receiver, Thielen, with over 600 yards, and he did it in just ten games. Xavier Legette was up and down, as was Jalen Coker, and Jonathan Mingo, a former second-round pick, finished out his season with the Dallas Cowboys, where he was just as impactful in all the worst ways.
Could the Panthers take a swipe again at another high-profile wide receiver in the draft, someone like Arizona's Tetairoa McMillan? Sure, he should be there around pick eight, but does anyone really trust the team to develop him where Mingo and Legette couldn't? Nope: if any team needs to invest in a proven veteran at wide receiver, especially one with Evans' unique set of skills, it would be the Panthers, and Higgins checks all of those boxes better than any player in free agency.
2. Tee Higgins can push everyone down the depth chart
In 2024, the Panthers were a team without a true WR1, with Young more often than not looking to Thielen when he needed a key play on a crucial down. While Legette and Coker showed promise as rookies, neither really showed enough to justify being true-blue WR1s who could go over 1,000 yards with 100 targets in their second seasons.
Enter Higgins, who has filled that role in Cincinnati and could look to do it again moving forward now that Ja'Marr Chase has established himself as one of the best players in the NFL.
Finishing out the 2024 NFL season as the fifth-ranked wide receiver according to PFF, Higgins played all over the field for the Panthers and did so successfully, including 118 snaps on the inside and 517 more on the perimeter, either on the line or offset. Though he didn't crack 1,000 yards for the third time in his career, Higgins did amass 911 in just 12 games with nine starts and was incredibly successful for his team, finishing out the season with his second-best yards-per-game of his career.
Transplanted onto the Panthers on a very player-friendly contract, Higgins could play the role Theilen filled as a stabilizing veteran while also being a 26-year-old star in his prime. Higgins' presence could allow Carolina to shrink Theilen's role moving forward, “saving” him for money downs at this stage in his career while letting Legette and Cooker develop at their own paces without the unnecessary burden of having to produce in a bigger way than they are ready for. It worked for Jalen Hurts with AJ Brown, with Tua Tongavialoa with Tyreek Hill, and could work with Higgins and Young, too, if GM Dan Morgan wants to get aggressive.
3. Tee Higgins and Abdul Carter would be an A+ spring for the Panthers
As with every other team in the NFL, the Panthers need to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the 2025 NFL Draft and address their needs in free agency accordingly in order to avoid reaching for a player of need when better prospects are still on the board.
In 2025, the first eight picks should see at least two quarterbacks, Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward, come off the board, Travis Hunter drafted early on – who would have been an incredible Panther if they picked top-3 – two offensive tackles in Will Capp and Kelvin Banks Jr., a cornerback in Will Johnson, a defensive tackle in Michigan's Mason Graham, and a defensive end in Penn State's Abdul Carter, in some order. On paper, any of those picks sans the quarterbacks would be great additions to the Panthers, as would players lower on the board like Georgia's Jalon Walker or even Arizona's McMillian, but which realistic fit is the best?
Carter, it's definitely Carter.
Finishing out his junior season with double-digit sacks, 23.5 tackles for a loss, and 54 pressures, Carter could instantly enter the NFL as an impact player just like other top-10 picks like Travon Walker, Aiden Hutchenson, Micah Parsons, and Kevon Thebideaux before him while providing the perfect outside foil to Brown's inside gravity. He's already used to playing in blue and white, understanding having a feline for a mascot, and even has a few teammates on the roster, assuming Miles Sanders isn't released, of course.
Throw him in the role Jadeveon Clowney played in 2024, or keep them both, but leaving the offseason with Carter and Higgins would be A+ stuff.
