What do the Carolina Panthers have at tight end in 2021?

The rest

• Giovanni Ricci, Colin Thompson, Stephen Sullivan

Considering the questions surrounding the tight end position at the end of last season, the more options available for the Carolina Panthers to take a look at during training camp, the better.

Although those on the fringes have their work cut out making the roster if the team decides to keep Ian Thomas around, if they outperform him during scrimmages and the preseason, it might make the coaching staff think twice.

Colin Thompson has a previous working relationship with Matt Rhule from their time together at Temple and didn’t disgrace himself during his limited time on the field in 2020. Whether this can be a springboard for bigger and better things in the future is unclear, but the Panthers clearly like his aggressiveness and dependability.

Another who was in and around the team last season was Giovanni Ricci. The undrafted free agent was a practice squad mainstay throughout the campaign and judging by how he looked at rookie minicamp, it’s clear he’s been working hard on his body in pursuit of making more of an impression this summer.

Stephen Sullivan was signed during the offseason and has worked with Jor Brady before from their time at LSU, where they deployed double tight-end sets heavily on their way to a convincing national championship in 2019.

He played just once for the Seattle Seahawks before being moved on this spring, so Sullivan is still very much an unknown quantity.