Hunter Renfrow will have a chance to complete a comeback this year. Weeks after meeting with the Panthers, the former Raiders slot receiver will join the team, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero report.
Having also met with the new Raiders regime, Renfrow was viewed as unlikely to be re-signed. But the Panthers will give the former 1,000-yard pass catcher a shot. The team has since announced the one-year agreement.
Trekking to Charlotte in March, Renfrow looks to have seen dominoes fall his way in the draft. Despite the Panthers using their first-round pick on wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, they will give Renfrow a chance to impress as a slot option. The duo’s skillsets do not exactly overlap, and even though Carolina drafted Colorado receiver Jimmy Horn in Round 6, Renfrow will be part of its 90-man offseason roster.
After playing in Oakland and Las Vegas previously, Renfrow will return to his home region. The Clemson product is a Myrtle Beach, S.C., native. This addition certainly does not guarantee the 5-foot-10 target will be on Carolina’s 53-man roster come September, but he has at least secured an opportunity after sitting out the 2024 season.
The full-season absence came after the Raiders used a post-June 1 release designation on the five-year veteran last March. The Raiders had given Renfrow a two-year, $32MM extension, but he did not prove a fit in Josh McDaniels‘ offense. Despite McDaniels and then-GM Dave Ziegler signing off on the deal, Renfrow fell out of favor a year after leading the Raiders in receiving. Renfrow had joined Darren Waller as pillars of a Raiders pass-catching group that had sustained multiple setbacks — via the Antonio Brown misstep and Henry Ruggs‘ release following his involvement in a fatal car accident. Renfrow finished the 2021 season with 1,038 yards; he amassed barely half that across the following two seasons.
Renfrow, 29, caught 36 passes for 330 yards in 2022. That came in an injury-shortened season, but in 17 2023 games, the former Jon Gruden-era staple totaled just 255 yards as the Raiders transitioned from McDaniels to Antonio Pierce in charge. The short-lived Pierce-Tom Telesco regime, after trade rumors produced no takers, released him soon after. No close connections between Renfrow and teams emerged while he was on the market last year.
The Panthers moved on from both Diontae Johnson and Jonathan Mingo in-season, but they held onto Adam Thielen. The 13th-year veteran agreed to return on a deal that does not guarantee a roster spot, as it carries just $1.75MM guaranteed. McMillan and Horn join 2024 first-round pick Xavier Legette and UDFA find Jalen Coker among the Panthers’ receiving corps, which also houses backup David Moore. Renfrow will join the likes of Dan Chisena, Dax Milne and others vying for roster spots this offseason.
That’s a crowded receiver room, but that’s a good problem to have if your name is Bryce Young.
It seems to me that Thielen and Renfrow might fill some of the same roles in the offense, so it’ll be interesting to see how the snaps shake out. You figure that McMillan and Legette are the one and two receivers, in whatever order, and that either Renfrow or Thielen would be next. Carolina spending a selection on Horn makes it seem like he’d have some role, and that the Panthers see a further need in some capacity somewhere in the receiving corps.
My main question really now for them is at tight end, where I think that they could have used some investment. Sanders had too many mental mistakes for my liking, and though Tremble has one of the best names in the league and showed some value, I don’t think that the role is 100% nailed down right now in Carolina. I really want to see what their fifth round pick in Evans can give them. He probably was undervalued as a good player and part of Notre Dame’s second place run, so Carolina looks like they got a good value. We’ll have to see how he shakes out in the pros, because Young could really use a reliable tight end.
I’d bet against Renfrow making the 53 man roster. He was on the small and slow side before he was injured and pushing 30. Given where he would land in their pecking order, I’m guessing they would give the nod to Horn for special teams ability.
For tight end, I do think Evans can be a good complement to Sanders skill wise. Sanders more of the move tight end, Evans more of the inline blocker.
Well, if that happens, you wonder whether the receiver needy Saints would entertain the idea of a Carr-Renfrow reunion if Carr ends up playing.
I agree with you on the Evans/Sanders dichotomy. I wonder if Evans displays good enough receiving ability if he’d eventually just take over the role, but coming in, that seems like a great way to get them both on the field.
It’s not hard to carve out sizable roles for multiple good tight ends. It’s much harder to have multiple good tight ends in the first place. Especially when one of them is a weapon you want to move around the formation. The way Andrews and Likely both play tight end for the Ravens, but they don’t exactly play the same position.
Meanwhile, I’m a Jets fan, so I’m relieved the draft brought *one* promising tight end to the roster, and it’s the son of Jason Taylor and nephew of Zach Thomas. Where does the time go?