Wide receiver Jalen Coker (hamstring) will be active on Sunday so he will play for the first time this season. A roster move must be made Saturday as he comes off injured reserve.

Related Players: Tetairoa McMillan, Xavier Legette, Hunter Renfrow, Jimmy Horn

Coker could (very) easily become the No. 2 option in the Panthers passing game with no one else stepping up behind Legette. It's better to take a wait-and-see approach as it pertains to this week, but he should be on radars moving forward.

Panthers RB Chuba Hubbard and WR Tetairoa McMillan are both expected to play Sunday against the Patriots.

Both were listed as questionable with calf injuries and were limited Thursday and Friday but are trending in the right direction. The Panthers are dealing with injuries in the passing game with WR Xavier Leggette and TE Ja’Tavion also injured. Hubbard is RB20 and McMillan is WR21 this week.

Panthers RB Chuba Hubbard is questionable for Sunday vs. the Patriots due to a calf injury, and WR Xavier Legette has been ruled out.

Related Players: Rico Dowdle, Trevor Etienne, Tetairoa McMillan, Hunter Renfrow, Brycen Tremayne

If Hubbard is out there, we'd still expect him to put up borderline RB2/3 numbers, but if he misses Dowdle could operate in the RB4 range.

Legette's continued absence shouldn't have much of an impact on the rest of the wide receiver room. McMillan is the only option we should be considered in fantasy.

Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan did not practice today due to a calf injury.

Related Players: Hunter Renfrow, Brycen Tremayne, David Moore

With Xavier Legette potentially sidelined and likely bad, missing McMillan this week would leave their pass-catchers in utter disarray. If TMac can go, he should still be locked in as a WR2, but if he's sidelined, we should be trying to stream the Patriots D/ST, if we weren't already.

The NFL game did not look too big or fast for Tetairoa McMillan, who caught five passes for 68 yards on nine targets. It was the third-highest receiving total by a rookie in franchise history, trailing only Muhsin Muhammad (96 yards) and Kelvin Benjamin (92).

“It’s cool,” McMillan said. “But everybody on this team wants to win games. I feel like I should have done more.”

The story said McMillan was especially bothered by another fourth-down play in the third quarter, when he couldn’t come down with a one-handed catch in the end zone, or it could have been a bigger fantasy debut for the rookie. However, the author went on to say McMillan looked the part of a No. 1 receiver, which may have been the best development for the Panthers on a lost Sunday.

Hunter Renfrow is listed as one of the starting wide receivers for the Panthers.

Related players: Tetairoa McMillan, Xavier Legette, Jalen Coker, David Moore

Renfrow was cut from the team and then brought back this weekend after Coker moved to IR. It's quite a fall and rise situation for Renfrow, who could find himself as a fantasy producer, with the upside being Adam Thielen-like from last season.

Homecoming: Panthers and Vikings are finalizing a trade for WR Adam Thielen to return to Minnesota, sources tell ESPN.

The trade: Vikings get Thielen, a conditional 2026 seventh-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick.

Panthers get a 2026 fifth-round pick and a 2027 fourth-round pick.

Thielen starred for the Vikings from 2013-2022. Now he returns.

Related Players: Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Tetairoa McMillan, Xavier Legette, Jalen Coker

This is a good move to ease J.J. McCarthy into the league with Jordan Addison suspended for the first three games. Thielen is heading into his age-35 (!!) season and doesn't offer nearly the run-after-catch ability as he did in his heyday, but he can operate as a consistent option for the young QB. He's unlikely to hit double-digit targets as he did a couple times last year with JJ and T.J. Hockenson around, but he could be playable for desperate deep-league managers.

Back in Carolina, this helps clear the runway for Jalen Coker to operate as the Panthers' primary slot option after a pretty impressive rookie season for a UDFA. He's an interesting stash.

Vikings and Panthers have tried to work out a trade for Carolina WR Adam Thielen.

Related players: Tetairoa McMillan, Xavier Legette, Jalen Coker, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jalen Nailor

Schefter's post said Thielen would like to return to Minnesota, but the two sides continue to struggle to agree on compensation. The Vikings could use help at WR with Addison suspended. Thielen would likely be the team's WR3 when at full strength in a couple of weeks, probably pushing Nailor down the depth chart. In Carolina, Thielen could be considered the team's WR2, but if he departs Legette likely takes that role behind McMillan with Coker moving up to the team's WR3 role. Whatever the hurdles seem to be, one would think this deal gets done at some point.

The arrival of No. 8 pick Tetairoa McMillan should take some pressure off Xavier Legette, whom the Panthers traded up to take at No. 32 in 2024. It’s not like Legette was a total bust: The 6-foot-3, 227-pounder caught 49 passes for 497 yards and four touchdowns. But as Bryce Young develops and McMillan draws coverage his way, Legette’s production should increase this season. — Joseph Person

Legette shouldn't be a highly-sought pick in upcoming drafts this summer, so maybe he's worth taking a shot on toward the end of your draft. The story added Legette wasn’t a full-time starter until his fifth season at South Carolina. So there were naturally growing pains for Legette, whose eight drops — including one on Young’s potential game-winning touchdown pass at Philadelphia — put him among the leaders in that category, the story pointed out.