After releasing him as part of cutdown day on Tuesday, the Carolina Panthers signed veteran slot receiver Hunter Renfrow to their 53-man roster on Saturday, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz.
The move comes after the Panthers traded incumbent starting slot receiver Adam Thielen, a conditional 2026 seventh-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings for a 2026 fifth-round draft pick and a 2027 fourth-round pick this week.
Also, Joe Person of The Athletic reported Saturday that second-year player and projected starting slot receiver Jalen Coker is expected to miss four-to-six weeks after pulling his quad during practice, leaving a void that Renfrow can potentially fill.
Renfrow, 29, did not appear in an NFL regular-season game in 2024 after spending his first five seasons with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders.
Originally a fifth-round draft pick out of Clemson in 2019, Renfrow made an instant impact for the Raiders and eventually developed into one of the top slot receivers in the league.
After finishing with 49 catches for 605 yards and four touchdowns as a rookie and 56 receptions for 656 yards and two touchdowns in 2020, Renfrow exploded with a career year in 2021.
Renfrow set career highs across the board with 103 grabs for 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns en route to his first and only Pro Bowl selection.
He did that under Jon Gruden and then interim head coach Rich Bisaccia following Gruden’s firing, and it was widely assumed that Renfrow would be able to build on that production under Josh McDaniels in 2022.
After all, Julian Edelman and Wes Welker thrived as elite slot receivers during McDaniels’ time as offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots.
Renfrow missed time with a concussion, though, and he ended up registering just 330 yards and two touchdowns on 36 catches in 10 games that season.
Then, despite appearing in all 17 games in 2023, Renfrow was essentially a nonfactor in the Las Vegas offense with 25 receptions for 255 yards and no touchdowns, all of which were career lows.
After going unsigned in 2024, Renfrow attempted a comeback, signing with the Panthers back in April.
Renfrow missed some time during training camp with a hamstring injury, and he was unable to make the Panthers’ roster coming out of the preseason, as they opted to keep rookie first-round pick Tetairoa McMillan, second-year men Xavier Legette and Coker, Thielen, rookie sixth-round pick Jimmy Horn Jr. and veteran David Moore as their man receivers.
However, after trading Thielen, a spot opened up for some potential competition at the slot receiver spot.
It is widely expected that the season will start with McMillan and Legette as the starting outside receivers, and prior to getting injured, Coker would have been the starter in the slot after the latter recorded 32 catches for 478 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie.
With Thielen now in Minnesota and Coker out for at least a month, Renfrow can fill a specialized role in Carolina and give third-year quarterback Bryce Young another sure-handed option in the passing game.