Tag: Popo Aumavae

Panthers sign former Buccaneers WR Deven Thompkins

The Panthers added former Buccaneers WR Deven Thompkins on Thursday.

Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales has been reunited with a familiar pair of hands.

As officially announced on Thursday, the team has signed wideout Deven Thompkins. The 5-foot-8, 155-pound receiver spent last season under Canales, who had served as the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

A Fort Meyers, Fla. native, Thompkins headed out west to play his college ball at Utah State University from 2018 to 2021. He capped off his four-year stay with a stellar senior campaign—reeling in 102 passes for 1,704 yards and 10 touchdowns en route to a First-team All-Mountain West selection and a Third-team AP All-American nod.

Thompkins would then enter the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Buccaneers in 2022. He amassed 22 receptions for 115 yards and a score as well as totals of 28 kick returns and 31 punt returns over his two pro seasons.

To make room for Thompkins, the Panthers waived/injured rookie defensive lineman Popo Aumavae. According to Mike Kaye of The Charlotte Observer, Aumavae sustained an Achilles injury during the opening outing of training camp on Wednesday.

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3 Panthers rookies selected in UFL’s 2024 college draft

A trio of Panthers rookies had their UFL rights drafted on Wednesday.

A trio of undrafted Carolina Panthers rookies are (technically) undrafted no more.

The UFL held its college draft on Wednesday, giving some fresh faces a second chance at hearing their names called this offseason. Three of Carolina’s undrafted free-agent signees from the spring got that experience this morning, and they are as follows:

Round Pick (Overall) Team College
WR Jalen Coker 4th No. 25 Memphis Showboats Holy Cross
DT Popo Aumavae 4th No. 27 Arlington Renegades Oregon
C Andrew Raym 6th No. 41 Memphis Showboats Oklahoma

Coker, who many experts pegged as a solid Day 3 prospect in the 2024 NFL draft, is a name that should jump out to many. He certainly jumped out to Panthers head coach Dave Canales, who provided quite the breakdown of the intriguing 6-foot-1, 208-pound receiver during rookie minicamp in early May.

“Size, instincts, top-of-route ability to separate,” Canales said of Coker’s strengths. “He’s really crafty in zones. He knows how to find the open spaces. Has a little cool run-after-catch, too. He can break some tackles because of the size that he brings. Attacks the ball at the high point. I mean, the guy really does have a cool skill set that he brings to us. So I’m excited to see him kinda get introduced as we start to develop out football, especially in Phase Three OTAs. Let’s see what he looks like against NFL talent. But I’m really excited about him.”

Players taken in the UFL’s draft can opt to join the league if they do not make an NFL roster for this upcoming season.

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3 Panthers rookies selected in UFL’s 2024 college draft

A trio of Panthers rookies had their UFL rights drafted on Wednesday.

A trio of undrafted Carolina Panthers rookies are (technically) undrafted no more.

The UFL held its college draft on Wednesday, giving some fresh faces a second chance at hearing their names called this offseason. Three of Carolina’s undrafted free-agent signees from the spring got that experience this morning, and they are as follows:

Round Pick (Overall) Team College
WR Jalen Coker 4th No. 25 Memphis Showboats Holy Cross
DT Popo Aumavae 4th No. 27 Arlington Renegades Oregon
C Andrew Raym 6th No. 41 Memphis Showboats Oklahoma

Coker, who many experts pegged as a solid Day 3 prospect in the 2024 NFL draft, is a name that should jump out to many. He certainly jumped out to Panthers head coach Dave Canales, who provided quite the breakdown of the intriguing 6-foot-1, 208-pound receiver during rookie minicamp in early May.

“Size, instincts, top-of-route ability to separate,” Canales said of Coker’s strengths. “He’s really crafty in zones. He knows how to find the open spaces. Has a little cool run-after-catch, too. He can break some tackles because of the size that he brings. Attacks the ball at the high point. I mean, the guy really does have a cool skill set that he brings to us. So I’m excited to see him kinda get introduced as we start to develop out football, especially in Phase Three OTAs. Let’s see what he looks like against NFL talent. But I’m really excited about him.”

Players taken in the UFL’s draft can opt to join the league if they do not make an NFL roster for this upcoming season.

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Panthers projected depth chart following 2024 NFL draft

How do this year’s draft picks and undrafted free agents fit into the fold for the Panthers?

We’re not going to get too ahead of ourselves with our new friends. But we are a bit eager to see their names in the mix.

Here, with undrafted free agents included, is our projected depth chart for the Carolina Panthers following the 2024 NFL draft . . .

Bold = draft pick
Italics = undrafted free-agent signee

Offense:

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
QB Bryce Young Andy Dalton Jack Plummer
RB Chuba Hubbard Miles Sanders Jonathon Brooks Raheem Blackshear Mike Boone Spencer Brown Tarik Cohen Jaden Shirden
WR Diontae Johnson Jonathan Mingo David Moore Jalen Camp Jalen Coker
WR Xavier Legette Terrace Marshall Jr. Michael Strachan Cam Sims Sam Pinckney
SWR Adam Thielen Ihmir Smith-Marsette Devin Carter
TE Tommy Tremble Ja’Tavion Sanders Ian Thomas Stephen Sullivan Jordan Matthews Chris Pierce
LT Ikem Ekwonu Yosh Nijman Ricky Lee Jeremiah Crawford
LG Damien Lewis Cade Mays
C Austin Corbett Brady Christensen Andrew Raym
RG Robert Hunt Chandler Zavala Nash Jensen J.D. DiRenzo
RT Taylor Moton Ilm Manning Badara Traore

Defense:

1st 2nd 3rd 4th
DE Derrick Brown LaBryan Ray Jaden Crumedy
DT Shy Tuttle Nick Thurman Popo Aumavae
DE A’Shawn Robinson Raequan Williams
OLB Jadeveon Clowney K’Lavon Chaisson Amaré Barno Derrick McClendon
LB Shaq Thompson Trevin Wallace Chandler Wooten Claudin Cherelus
LB Josey Jewell Tae Davis Michael Barrett Jackson Mitchell
OLB D.J. Wonnum DJ Johnson Luiji Vilain Taylor Upshaw
CB Jaycee Horn D’Shawn Jamison Lamar Jackson
CB Dane Jackson Dicaprio Bootle Willie Drew
SS Xavier Woods Jammie Robinson Sam Franklin Jr. Demani Richardson Clayton Isbell
FS Jordan Fuller Nick Scott Alex Cook DeShawn Gaddie Jr.
NCB Troy Hill Chau Smith-Wade AJ Parker

Special teams:

1st 2nd
K Eddy Piñeiro Harrison Mevis
P Johnny Hekker
LS JJ Jansen
KR Raheem Blackshear Ihmir Smith-Marsette Xavier Legette
PR Ihmir Smith-Marsette Xavier Legette

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Former Oregon DT Popo Aumavae signs with Carolina as an undrafted free-agent

Popo Aumavae is headed to the Carolina Panthers after signing as a UDFA.

Popo Aumavae, a former defensive tackle for the Oregon Ducks, has signed with the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent. Aumavae battled several injuries during his time at Oregon, but he has been a staple on the Ducks’ defensive line for the last seven years.

As a three-star recruit and the No. 49 ranked DT according to 247Sports, Aumavae came to Oregon in the class of 2017. In five seasons with the Ducks, Aumavae played in 43 games and took over 1200 snaps. In his career, Aumavae tallied 86 tackles, 12 TFLs, and 6.5 sacks.

Aumavae’s best season at Oregon was his 2021 campaign, when he played in all 13 of the Ducks games, taking 500+ defensive snaps. That season Aumavae registered 36 total tackles and received an 81.3 PFF defensive grade — a top 15 rank for DTs with 500+ snaps that season.

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The Bears show loads of interest in offensive prospects at Oregon’s pro day

All 32 NFL teams were at Oregon’s pro day workouts, but nobody sent more coaches than the Chicago Bears

Tuesday’s top collegiate pro day was in Eugene for the Oregon Ducks workouts. All 32 NFL teams were in attendance, though some were represented more heavily than others.

No team sent more resources and high-level personnel to the Ducks pro day than the Chicago Bears. Specifically, the Bears had six members of their staff in Eugene to check out the plethora of prospects.

Per Jim Nagy of the Senior Bowl, the Bears dispatched head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron were there for the festivities. Other sources on the ground indicate new Chicago WR coach Chris Beatty was in attendance. Offensive line coach Chris Morgan was also there, a day after he witnessed Oregon State standout Taliese Fuaga at the Beavers’ pro day.

Among the Ducks prospects they got to watch, listed in expected order of draft selection:

IOL Jackson Powers-Johnson

QB Bo Nix

WR Troy Franklin

RB Bucky Irving

CB Khyree Jackson

DT Popo Aumavae

Fall Ball Takeaways: Pair of notable defensive linemen not accounted for

Fall Ball Takeaways: Pair of notable defensive linemen not accounted for

The most pressing information that came out of the portion of Oregon Ducks practice that was open to media members on Friday afternoon had to to with the absence of a pair of notable defensive linemen.

Neither Popo Aumavae nor Keyone Ware-Hudson was accounted for during the 20 minutes of practice that media members were able to watch. Aumavae is a projected started on the DL, and Ware-Hudson has had some major contributions over the past couple of years as well.

There were also two offensive players missing from the first part of practice: WR Justius Lowe and OL Michael Wooten. This is the second practice in a row where Lowe has not been spotted by media members.

The Ducks will hold their first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday afternoon, but that event is closed to media members, so we will not be able to take attendance and see if either of the four aforementioned players are suited up and partaking in activities. We will get a chance to talk to head coach Dan Lanning after the scrimmage, though, so he will likely be asked about their availability.

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How Oregon’s DL looks with Jordan Burch’s commitment, Brandon Dorlus’ return

In the last week, former 5-star DL Jordan Burch committed to the Ducks, and Brandon Dorlus announced his return. Oregon’s DL could be special in 2023.

Going into the offseason for the Oregon Ducks, one of the biggest areas of concern was on the defensive line. While that unit played well in 2022, there were a lot of question marks about who would be returning for the 2023 season.

Defensive end DJ Johnson announced quickly after the end of the regular season that he would be declaring for the NFL Draft and opting out of the bowl game. It was also believed that Brandon Dorlus would do the same, and guys like Casey Rogers, Taki Taimani, and Popo Aumavae had yet to make their future intentions clear.

This past week has been an endless source of good news on that front for the Ducks. It started out on Sunday with Dorlus announcing that he would be coming back for one more year, and continued on Tuesday with Rogers announcing that he would do the same. Wednesday provided the fireworks, with South Carolina defensive lineman Jordan Burch, a former 5-star recruit and the No. 1 ranked player in the transfer portal, announcing that he would commit to the Ducks, giving Lanning one of the best DL in the nation.

We also got news from Aumavae, who has been granted an injury waiver and will be returning for one last season in Eugene as well.

With all of this news, I figured it would be a great time to look at the defensive line as a whole and try to project how things will shake up in 2023. Some of the aforementioned guys will likely announce their future intentions in the next week, and a few others may choose to transfer to other schools.

Let’s take a look at how things stand on the DL going into the offseason:

Breaking: Popo Aumavae out for the season with foot injury

Defensive tackle Popo Aumavae will miss the 2022 season with a foot injury he sustained in practice leading up to the Georgia game.

Last year it was Justin Flowe. This year it’s Popo Aumavae.

Oregon Ducks football head coach Dan Lanning announced during his Monday press conference that the Ducks defensive tackle will miss the 2022 season with a foot injury.

He’ll most likely have surgery this week.

Lanning, who doesn’t give away injury news very often, said that the injury occurred late last week before the team headed for Atlanta.

It’s a big blow for the Oregon defense as Aumavae was on the Associated Press Pac-12 All-Conference first team, the PFF Pac-12 All-Conference first team and a coaches Pac-12 All-Conference honorable mention,

In 2021, the senior enjoyed a breakout season for the Ducks in his fifth year with the program, playing in 13 of Oregon’s 14 games and finished the season with a career-high 36 total tackles, including 16 solo.

His absence last week against Georgia was noticeable as the Bulldog offensive line continually pushed the Ducks back and controlled the line of scrimmage.

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Five Ducks named to the Polynesian player of the year award watch list

Oregon linebacker Noah Sewell headlines a group of five Ducks to be named to the Polynesian Player of the Year award watch list.

Oregon has had a long history of having great Polynesian players in the football program and that hasn’t changed.

Five current football players have been named to the watch list for the 2022 Polynesian Player of the Year award. Marcus Mariota took home the first award in 2014 and Penei Sewell also won it in 2019.

Defensive tackle Popo Aumavae, offensive lineman Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, linebackers Noah Sewell and Mase Funa as well as defensive lineman Taki Taimani have all been named to the watch list.

Sewell is definitely one of the favorites to win the award if he has the kind of year the Ducks are expecting the junior to have. If Sewell is to win the award, it would mark the first time in the award’s short history that players of the same family have been recipients.

The winner will be announced after the regular season is finished in December.

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