The Carolina Panthers are looking to make waves in the NFC South next season. Head coach Dave Canales is quietly confident that his squad has what it takes to mount a division title challenge, and fans are also growing in optimism with a few weeks before their campaign curtain-raiser against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
And the fan base also had something to smile about where one of their bitter division rivals was concerned.
Not many signings or draft picks panned out under previous regimes before Canales and general manager Dan Morgan steadied the ship. This was largely responsible for their freefall to rock bottom, and it's been a long, hard road back to competitiveness when all hope seemed lost.
One such bust was free-agent signing D.J. Chark Jr. The explosive wide receiver joined the Panthers after a lengthy pursuit in 2023 free agency. But much like most acquisitions under Scott Fitterer, it never went according to plan.
Carolina Panthers will face D.J. Chark Jr. twice in 2025 after he joined the Falcons
Chark brought in just 53 percent of passes thrown in his direction for 525 receiving yards and five touchdowns. His ability to stretch the field effectively deserted him for the most part. There were also some major concentration issues that saw trust in the wideout diminish significantly.
The former second-round pick out of LSU wasn't brought back. Chark didn't fare much better with the Las Vegas Raiders last season, accumulating just four receptions from 10 targets in seven contests. But after being on the proverbial scrapheap throughout the offseason, he's now found a new home back in the NFC South.
Chark signed a one-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons after a successful visit. This gets his foot back in the door, although there is a lot of hard work ahead to secure a prominent spot on the wideout depth chart.
That's of no concern to the Panthers, who shouldn't exactly be quaking in fear about the prospect of having to face Chark twice a season. They have some slight concerns about the cornerback position, but nothing that should prevent them from locking down Atlanta's new weapon with minimal fuss.
There's no doubt Chark will have some extra motivation when he goes up against the Panthers. But in all honesty, he'll have to make the roster first before attention turns to that.
And it remains to be seen whether the Alexandra High School graduate can achieve this objective.