Greg Olsen might be well past his prime at this point in his career. However, the Panthers are going to miss him.
Heading into the 2020 season, tight end is one of the weakest positions on the roster. How weak is it? According to Pro Football Focus, Carolina’s tight ends are ranked No. 31 in the league this year. Only Washington’s are worse.
“With longtime Panther Greg Olsen moving on, the spotlight is on third-year tight end Ian Thomas to step up to the No. 1 spot on the depth chart. He has caught 52 passes for 469 yards in his career, and his 52.3 receiving grade last season ranked just 41st out of 44 qualifiers to go with a below-average 52.4 run-blocking grade. Behind Thomas is Chris Manhertz, who has played just over 1,000 career snaps and caught just six passes in his four years of action.”
At least there’s a lot of room for improvement.
The x-factor for this group will be if Ian Thomas can improve his catch rate. Over the last two seasons, he’s dropped a total of six passes on just 79 targets. That rate is too high for a starting tight end.
Even if they’re confident Thomas will make some big strides, the Panthers should consider adding another tight end.
One possibility is David Njoku, who has requested a trade from the Browns after they signed Austin Hooper. On the free agent front, Jordan Reed and Charles Clay are both options who could provide a low-risk, high-reward kind of dynamic for Joe Brady’s offense.
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