Wide receivers camp preview, who is in and who is out?

[Jeremy Igo]

http://www.carolinahuddle.com/2017/07/22/carolina-panthers-receivers-2/

 

Quick write up for anyone who hasn't been paying much attention this offseason. 

 

TLDR version

KB, Funch, Samuel, Shepard are locks

 

the rest for fighting for one maybe two spots. 

 

Dark horse - Austin Duke

[Squirrel]

Come on you know Bersin is a lock. 

[KB_fan]

Nice write up Jeremy.

Any thoughts on what the team - and especially Hurney - might particularly value in a WR5?

• Is it ability to come in and fill in for any injured guy (ala Bersin)?
• Or is it special teams value, eg. speed in returns (ala Byrd)?
• Or would it be most upside (maybe favoring a rookie like Duke)?
• Or some other quality.... being a local?  (Bersin, Byrd, Duke)

I wasn't following the team so closely in the Hurney era.  I truly started my Panthers obsession in late 2012...  So I'm curious about what Marty might prioritize.

My current bets are with Bersin & Byrd or Duke.  Given how few snaps a WR5 plays (barring injury to one of the other guys), I'm guessing most important qualities are plug & play reliability (Bersin) should someone go down and special teams value.

I know Bersin's been dealing with an injury or coming off surgery (forget which) that limited him in OTAs.  It will be interesting to see his place in the pecking order come camp... but for a lot of reasons he still makes sense as depth, IF he still shows good hands and good routes.  This could especially be true this year if we've got guys like CMC, Samuel & Shepard as weapons in our return game.  We wouldn't need to count on our WR5 being our returner...

 

[AggieLean]

Rooting for Charles Johnson and Austin Duke.

[FireTom]

Keyaris Garrett is gonna surprise some people this training camp

Sent using the amazing CarolinaHuddle mobile app

[The Huddler]

Austin duke aint happening just get it out of yalls head now. 

[LinvilleGorge]

I honestly hope Funchess isn't a lock. He hasn't done anything to deserve to be. I hope we put some fire under his butt

[Jeremy Igo]

I honestly hope Funchess isn't a lock. He hasn't done anything to deserve to be. I hope we put some fire under his butt

He is. There is no debate.

[Panther49er]

2 minutes ago, The Huddler said:

Austin duke aint happening just get it out of yalls head now. 

Oh it's happening. I can already hear the "Duuuuuuuuuuke" chants coming from BOA on Sunday afternoons

[Camp Fodder]

I think the leading candidates are bersin and Charles Johnson has they have the most  NFL game experience

[yasuhara2241]

I think we only keep 5 WR with essentially having CMC as a hybrid we don't need to carry as many. I hate to be the one that says this, but ask me after some preseason practices and games!

As of today my hope would be a Charles Johnson or Garrett balls out. The reasoning is that to be honest both KB & Funch, our large WRs, have been very inconsistent. If one of those 2 guys can step it up that would be great for our team. 

I think Ross/Duke will be practice squad this year but once again actually seeing these guys in game will definitely change my mind!

[Jeremy Igo]

Austin duke aint happening just get it out of yalls head now. 

I'm not so sure. He looked better than any non vets. Of course, Samuel was inured most of the time.

[Jeremy Igo]

I think we only keep 5 WR with essentially having CMC as a hybrid we don't need to carry as many. I hate to be the one that says this, but ask me after some preseason practices and games!
As of today my hope would be a Charles Johnson or Garrett balls out. The reasoning is that to be honest both KB & Funch, our large WRs, have been very inconsistent. If one of those 2 guys can step it up that would be great for our team. 
I think Ross/Duke will be practice squad this year but once again actually seeing these guys in game will definitely change my mind!

Russell Shepard isn't small.

[yasuhara2241]

Just now, Jeremy Igo said:

 

Russell Shepard isn't small.

 

Good point. Based on what you and others said about him, he had a great OTA, so hopefully he will be able to be our consistent WR. I always seem to forget him for some reason.