4 Carolina Panthers players losing crucial ground at 2024 training camp
By Dean Jones
David Moore - Carolina Panthers WR
Things are heating up in the Carolina Panthers wide receiver room. Competition for places is fierce and the team's pass-catchers have hit the ground running over the initial stages of camp. This is great news for second-year quarterback Bryce Young in his quest to make the NFL sit up and take notice in 2024.
Diontae Johnson and Adam Thielen look like a dependable veteran duo capable of making big plays when called upon. First-round pick Xavier Legette remains a work in progress, but his athleticism is absolutely off the charts. It would be surprising if the Panthers didn't get him heavily involved right out of the gate.
Jonathan Mingo is enjoying a renaissance under head coach Dave Canales and should improve in Year 2 of his professional career. Terrace Marshall Jr. is on his last chance but is once again showing out at camp. Whether this amounts to any reliable consistency when the regular season arrives is another matter.
Undrafted free agent Jalen Coker is also making a splash when targets come his way. David Moore's flashed on occasion, but his hopes of making the 53-man roster aren't being helped by the exceptional performance levels of others vying for places on the depth chart.
Moore knows Canales well from their time together on the Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was unfortunate not to make the roster during his first stop in Carolina. However, his fortunes this time around are hanging in the balance thanks in no small part to the raised standards within a unit that became a constant source of frustration during the previous campaign.
The veteran can't worry about anything out of his control. Moore is experienced enough to focus on his game. He needs to make opportunities count. If that's not enough, the wideout can relax safe in the knowledge he couldn't have done any more.
While the former seventh-round selection lost crucial ground through no real fault of his own, he won't be throwing in the towel by any stretch of the imagination.