Breaking: Panthers agrees $2.8m deal to land 26 year old highly rated WR

Sitting in the doghouse of the NFC with a 1-5 record and a point difference of -100, the Panthers aren’t a team bereft of talent per se, but most of those players fall into one of two categories: developmental prospects and veteran contributors on short-term deals.

When it comes to the former, the Panthers should tread lightly, carefully playing the market to secure premier assets or interesting players worth taking a shot on. But for the latter? Fire sale: anyone born in the 1990s – with few exceptions – needs to go, and a Day 3 pick will get you most of them, from Xavier Woods to Jadeveon Clowney and everyone in between.

 

Fortunately, this is very much a seller’s market, so the Panthers might be able to load up on a few quality picks for players they no longer need while getting to play younger players where they would have anyway. Bad news for short-term winning prospects but good news for the draft junkies already eyeballing the next great class of Panthers.

Trade Jonathan Mingo to the Commanders for Emmanuel Forbes

When the Panthers drafted Jonathan Mingo out of Ole Miss, it looked like he had all the makings of a future WR1 for Carolina’s offense. Paired up with a bright young quarterback, the athletic receiver looked primed to become a mainstay of Carolina’s offense for years to come, serving as the young foil to Adam Thelein’s veteran experience following DJ Moore’s exit.

 

Keyword? Looked.

 

Over the past two seasons, Mingo really hasn’t done much in the NFL, catching just 51.4 percent of the balls thrown his way while averaging just 9.8 yards per reception. He hasn’t really found a role in Frank Reich’s, Chris Tabor’s, or Dave Canales’ offense, and still famously hasn’t scored a touchdown over 21 games of action.

Could Mingo figure things out over the next two seasons and change? Sure, maybe he will, but considering how quickly NFL teams give up on perceived busts nowadays, especially when the front office that drafted them is working for another team, trading a second-year wide receiver drafted in the top 40 really isn’t that unusual, as it happened already this year with Jahan Dotson in the division no less.

 

Considering Commanders GM Adam Peters was a member of the Panthers front office that drafted Mingo, maybe they still see something they like in the collegiate Rebel, and they just so happen to have a similar reclamation project worth shopping to get a deal done: Emmanel Forbes.

 

Like Mingo, Forbes was drafted by the previous regime, is more prospective than a player, and even went to college in Mississippi, which doesn’t really matter but is interesting nonetheless. Despite his pedigree as a former first-round pick, Forbes has fallen out of the Commanders’ secondary rotation and now finds himself as the team’s fourth cornerback because he simply doesn’t fit neatly into the scheme Dan Quinn wants to run.