Tag: Jordan Matthews

Panthers bring back TE to practice squad on Friday

The Panthers have signed TE Jordan Matthews to their practice squad for the third time this season.

Jordan Matthews is back . . . again.

As announced on Friday morning, the Carolina Panthers have signed the 10th-year tight end to their practice squad. This marks his third stint as a member of the group this season.

Matthews was released from the active roster this past Tuesday. His spot would go to wide receiver Adam Thielen, who was officially activated after missing the last seven games due to a hamstring injury.

The Panthers have used Matthews in four of their 10 outings in 2024. He’s played 26 snaps on offense, where he has tallied one target, and 61 snaps on special teams.

Although he has yet to record a single catch for Carolina over the last two seasons, Matthews was the team’s second-leading receiver from this past preseason. He reeled in seven balls for 68 yards and a touchdown during the summer.

He now fills the spot on the practice squad left by the release of wide receiver Cam Johnson, who was also moved on Tuesday.

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Panthers activate WR Adam Thielen, part ways with 2 others

The Panthers have activated WR Adam Thielen to their 53-man roster.

The surging Carolina Panthers are getting one of their roster’s most important pieces back.

As announced on Tuesday afternoon, the team has activated wideout Adam Thielen to their 53-man roster. The 11th-year receiver has missed the last seven games due to a hamstring injury.

Thielen sustained the setback in Week 3, while scoring on a 31-yard touchdown pass in Carolina’s 36-22 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. He would be placed on injured reserve two days later.

Carolina then designated Thielen to return to practice on Oct. 23, opening up the 21-day window for the 34-year-old to be moved back to the active roster. Tomorrow would have marked the final day for the Panthers to do so.

Last season saw Thielen lead the team in targets (137), receptions (103) and receiving yards (1,014). In his three games this year, he’s totaled eight catches for 109 yards and the score.

To make room for Thielen, the Panthers waived veteran tight end Jordan Matthews from the active roster.

The team also released wide receiver Cam Johnson from the practice squad.

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Panthers announce 3 moves ahead of Week 9 matchup vs. Saints

The Panthers called up some depth for tomorrow’s matchup against the Saints.

The Carolina Panthers made a few adjustments before tomorrow’s matchup against the New Orleans Saints.

As announced on Saturday afternoon, the team has signed tight end Jordan Matthews to the active roster. The 32-year-old was in his second stint on Carolina’s practice squad this season.

Matthews was the Panthers’ second-leading receiver during preseason play, where he amassed 68 yards and a touchdown on seven catches.

He’ll provide some depth at the tight end position for the NFC South showdown with Tommy Tremble (back) listed as questionable and Feleipe Franks (concussion) already out.

The Panthers also elevated wide receiver Deven Thompkins and cornerback Caleb Farley from the practice squad. Sunday will mark the first elevation for Thompkins and the second for Farley, who recorded six snaps on defense and five on special teams in last Sunday’s 28-14 loss to the Denver Broncos.

In addition, the team downgraded running back Jonathon Brooks (knee), wide receiver Adam Thielen (hamstring), defensive lineman Jaden Crumedy (ankle), outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum (quadriceps) and safety Jordan Fuller (hamstring) to out for the contest.

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Panthers sign 2 players to practice squad on Wednesday

The Panthers made a pair of additions to their practice squad on Wednesday morning.

Jordan Matthews is back, again.

On Wednesday, the Carolina Panthers announced they brought back the veteran tight end to their practice squad. The 32-year-old was released on Tuesday, when the team signed fellow tight end Feleipe Franks to the active roster.

Matthews, who has been with the organization since last season, had a standout summer. He was the second-leading receiver for the Panthers during the preseason, as he reeled in seven catches for 68 yards and a touchdown.

Joining Matthews on the practice squad will be safety Russ Yeast, who was also added this morning. The 25-year-old defender has spent the last three seasons as a member of the Los Angeles Rams.

A First-team All-Big 12 selection at Kansas State University in 2021, Yeast was a seventh-round selection of Los Angeles during the 2022 draft. He’s gone on to appear in 33 games for the Rams since, totaling 81 combined tackles and five passes defensed with 10 starts.

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Panthers announce 3 roster moves on Tuesday

The Panthers announced a series of moves on Tuesday afternoon.

Amidst the aftermath from the bombshell news of quarterback Bryce Young’s demotion, the Carolina Panthers still kept it moving on Tuesday.

The team announced a new wave of roster moves this afternoon, headlined by the departure of outside linebacker Eku Leota. As first reported by NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero earlier in the day, the Panthers have waived the second-year defender—who made his first career start in this past Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Leota, an undrafted signee from the spring of 2023, has spent the last two years with the organization. He’s played in 10 games for the Panthers, totaling eight tackles (three for a loss) and a sack.

Carolina also turned their attention to the tight end room, signing practice member Feleipe Franks to the active roster and releasing 32-year-old veteran Jordan Matthews. Franks and Matthews both appeared in the Panthers’ first two outings of the 2024 campaign.

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Panthers rookie TE Ja’Tavion Sanders to start in Week 1 vs. Saints

Panthers HC Dave Canales confirmed that rookie TE Ja’Tavion Sanders will get the start in Sunday’s regular-season opener.

On Friday, the Carolina Panthers released their final injury report ahead of this weekend’s regular-season opener against the New Orleans Saints. And, as expected, starting tight ends Tommy Tremble (hamstring/back) and Ian Thomas (calf) have been ruled out after missing each of this week’s practices.

Also as expected, their absences has opened the door for rookie Ja’Tavion Sanders to get the start at the position on Sunday. Head coach Dave Canales confirmed the nod following this afternoon’s session.

This, obviously, means the 21-year-old tight end is set to start in what will be his very first regular-season game in the NFL. Sanders earned the honor through his eye-opening offseason.

“It’s exponential growth, every day,” Canales said of Sanders during training camp. “What I’ve seen him do is just kinda really take big leaps in the techniques. And you’ll see that with young guys. You’ll see big leaps, and then you wanna get them to the point where it’s consistent. And then we take our incremental growth—just like some of the veteran guys who have been around.

“So JT is taking those steps that we’re looking for. Made a big play at Fan Fest to end it, to end the scrimmage on a corner. Had a couple nice plays today, nice catches. He’s doin’ it. He’s making the most of his opportunity. It’s pushed him right up with that first group, to be able to show the guys you can count on him and he’s been really dependable with that.”

Carolina selected Sanders to kick off the fourth round of the 2024 NFL draft. Over his last two years at the University of Texas, he recorded 99 receptions for 1,295 yards and seven touchdowns en route to a pair of First-Team All-Big 12 selections.

Sanders is currently joined at the position by 32-year-old veteran Jordan Matthews, the only other healthy tight end on the active roster. The Panthers can also promote Feleipe Franks from the practice squad to give themselves some depth.

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Panthers OC Brad Idzik recalls embarrassing story involving TE Jordan Matthews

Panthers OC Brad Idzik admits that TE Jordan Matthews put his playing career to an end when they were both back in college.

Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Brad Idzik was already familiar with one of the team’s pass catchers entering his first year on the job. But that familiarity doesn’t necessarily stem from a positive experience—at least for him.

Idzik chatted with reporters before hitting the practice field on Thursday afternoon. He was asked about veteran tight end Jordan Matthews, who actually provided Idzik with what may have been the most humbling moment of his playing career.

“My last game at Wake Forest was at Vanderbilt,” said Idzik, who played wide receiver and safety for the Demon Deacons from 2011 to 2013. “And Jordan Matthews—we kid about it all the time—it was fourth-and-20, it’s a little embarrassing . . . fourth-and-20, we had a first-round corner on him and safety help and he catches a go ball to win the game. My last career college game.”

Here’s the catch:

Matthews finished the day with 11 receptions for 125 yards in Wake Forest’s 23-21 triumph.

“Yeah, yeah, it kills me,” Idzik later joked. “It’s my lingering moment of actually putting on the pads. So, he drove me to a coaching career quicker than I wanted to.”

Now, with Idzik helping coach up Matthews as a pro, that moment has come full circle in Carolina.

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Panthers reportedly signing former Packers TE to active roster

With the statuses of Tommy Tremble and Ian Thomas still up in the air for Week 1, the Panthers added some insurance to the TE room.

The Carolina Panthers may very well be without their top two tight ends when they kick off their regular season on Sunday. So, they’re looking to grab a little bit of insurance.

As first reported by Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston on Tuesday, the team is signing tight end Messiah Swinson off the Green Bay Packers’ practice squad. The 6-foot-7, 259-pound rookie will now be added to Carolina’s active 53-man roster ahead of their Week 1 matchup against the New Orleans Saints.

A Bay Shore, N.Y. native, Swinson split his collegiate career between the University of Missouri (2019 to 2021) and Arizona State University (2022 to 2023). Over those five years, he amassed 28 receptions for 317 yards and two touchdowns.

Swinson was signed by the Packers as an undrafted free agent in May. He’d later be released during the team’s cutdown to their initial 53-man roster and was later brought back as a member of their practice squad.

With the statuses of projected starter Tommy Tremble and Ian Thomas still up in the air for this weekend, Swinson should provide some depth alongside fellow rookie and fourth-round pick Ja’Tavion Sanders as well as veteran Jordan Matthews.

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Panthers TE Jordan Matthews continues his comeback story in 2024

An unlikely and once-forgotten player has written one of the best stories of the summer for the Carolina Panthers.

Somehow, an 11th-year wideout-turned-tight end has become one of the best stories in a developmental season for the Carolina Panthers.

On Thursday, the team officially signed Jordan Matthews to their 53-man roster. The 32-year-old made his way back into the picture after being released during Carolina’s initial roster cutdown on Tuesday and subsequently added to the practice squad the next afternoon.

But this week’s little journey is just a microcosm of Matthews’ career in Charlotte—as he looks to make a significant mark in a possible return from irrelevancy.

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A second-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles back in 2014, Matthews became an immediate contributor at the NFL level. Over his first three pro campaigns, he reeled in 225 receptions for 2,673 yards and 19 touchdowns—hitting the eight-score mark in two of those years and the 800-yard mark in each.

His career would then begin to slow down beginning in 2017, when he was traded to the Buffalo Bills in a deal for cornerback Ronald Darby. He would amass just 282 receiving yards that season, 300 in 2018 and 33 in 2019.

Matthews has yet to record a single regular-season yard since.

The outlook, however, has started to brighten a bit in Carolina—where the veteran has become a well-respected member of the locker room. Much of that respect has been earned under a new coaching regime this offseason, through noteworthy practices in training camp and productive performances in the preseason.

Week 1 of exhibition play saw Matthews lead the Panthers with 48 receiving yards. The finale in Buffalo, ironically enough, would then serve as the cherry on top of a standout summer—as he ended the offense’s most impressive possession of the preseason with an 8-yard touchdown catch from starting quarterback Bryce Young.

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Forecasting Matthews’ role moving forward is a bit difficult. He’s certainly at the end of the pecking order with the Panthers likely to feature fourth-year vet Tommy Tremble and, perhaps, 2024 fourth-round pick Ja’Tavion Sanders at the tight end position.

For now, however, we’ll keep enjoying the comeback story while it lasts.

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Panthers add TE Jordan Matthews to 53-man roster, place rookie on IR

The Panthers brought TE Jordan Matthews up to their 53-man roster.

Jordan Matthews’ feel-good story is back on track.

As officially announced on Thursday morning, the Carolina Panthers have added the veteran tight end to their 53-man roster. Matthews, one of the team’s summer standouts, was released during the initial roster cutdown on Tuesday and brought back as a practice-squad member on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old began turning heads during training camp, and parlayed his practice performances into a productive preseason. Matthews finished second on the team in receptions (seven) and receiving yards (68), and capped off the first-team offense’s impressive opening drive in the finale on an 8-yard touchdown connection with quarterback Bryce Young.

Carolina is currently dealing with injuries in their tight end room to Tommy Tremble (hamstring) and Ian Thomas (calf). 2024 fourth-round pick Ja’Tavion Sanders had been the only healthy tight end at practice following the move to their 53-man roster.

To make room for Matthews’ promotion, the Panthers placed rookie defensive lineman Jaden Crumedy on injured reserve. The 2024 sixth-rounder, who has been sidelined with a high-ankle sprain, will now miss at least the first four games of the regular season.

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