3 major storylines following the Carolina Panthers into Week 5 at Lions

All eyes on Carolina Panthers WR room

Early in the week, NFL insider Jordan Schultz put out a report that the Carolina Panthers were very active in the trade market with their sights set on acquiring a WR1 caliber player. As you can imagine, this set off a chain reaction of hypotheticals flying around the internet.

The most common names that have been brought to the forefront of the conversation are Denver Broncos wideouts Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton, Cincinnati Bengals' star Tee Higgins, and Las Vegas Raiders stud DaVante Adams.

Adams, for my money, is the only bonafide WR1 of that group. The others are upgrades to the current Panthers corp but have not reached the peak of being stamped as an unquestioned No. 1 option.

As the rumors and recruiting swirled about, Thursday Night Football provided another bundle of kindling for the receiving fire for Carolina fans. Former star wideout D.J. Moore put on an absolute show to the tune of eight receptions for 230 yards and three touchdowns.

Putting on that magnitude of a display in front of a national audience while Panthers fans have repeatedly watched their passing offense struggle to generate any explosive plays - it was like seeing your ex on TMZ getting handsy with a movie star, while you can’t even get catfished on Tinder.

According to StatMuse, the Detroit Lions trot out the 20th-ranked pass defense in the league. Adam Thielen has been consistently productive over the last few games. He has undoubtedly been the top receiving threat despite his advancing years.

But right now, with everything going on - I think it would go a long way to see one of the other receivers step up and show the ability to be a dynamic threat. With one eye on the future, you’d love to see Terrace Marshall Jr. prove he’s a potential part of the long-term plan. He hasn’t done that yet.

Jonathan Mingo returns from a one-game absence and could be poised to breakout, especially with Lions rookie safety, Brian Branch, ruled out with an ankle injury. The second-round pick is a player who could bring a serious spark to the offense with his yards-after-the-catch abilities - something that could even remind fans of the previously mentioned Moore.

Don’t sleep on the D.J. Chark revenge game aspect, either. Not just the mishandling of his injury last season, but any time you get the opportunity to play against a former team, there seems to be an undeniable extra twist of motivation to show them what they’re missing.

Dial up the patented deep ball for Chark and let’s see if this group can take fans' minds off their former heroes for a bit.