With 12 days left until the Carolina Panthers open their 2025 season against the Jacksonville Jaguars, it’s time to look at the number 12 jersey. No player is currently wearing this jersey number, though that could change in minutes as roster cuts and waiver wire claims are likely to be flying fast and loose over the next couple of days. For now, let’s look at the history this jersey number and focus on the three most impactful players to have worn it:
Kerry Collins
The first and longest tenured player
to wear number 12, Collins was with the Panthers for a little over three seasons. He began his career with the Panthers as the their first ever draft pick and the 5th overall in the 1995 NFL Draft. He started almost every game he played for the Panthers before being traded to the New Orleans Saints after four games of the 1998 season. He stayed with the Saints only through the end of that ‘98 season.
Collins went on to play for the New York Giants, the Oakland Raiders, the Tennessee Titans, and the Indianapolis Colts before retiring at the age of 39 after the 2011 season and a 17-year career. With the exception of the Colts and the Saints, with whom he was only with for a single season or fraction thereof, Collins ended up starting at least one full season for every team he played for.
Josh McCown
McCown is another perennial journeyman quarterback who came to the Panthers a full decade after Collins left. He served as a backup quarterback to Jake Delhomme and Matt Moore, but only attempted six passes as a Panther.
His tenure as a quarterback from 2008-2009 was less impactful on the team than his 11 game stint as the quarterbacks coach to 2023 first overall pick Bryce Young. McCown was part of a creative team that pulled together one of the worst seasons in Panthers history. He landed on his feet, however, as he is set to begin his second season as quarterbacks coach for the Minnesota Vikings. With the Vikings he helped Sam Darnold have a career year as a passer and is now molding the rookie campaign of 2025 10th overall pick J.J. McCarthy.
D.J. Moore
The Panthers last, best receiver before Adam Thielen and, hopefully, Tetairoa McMillan, Moore was part of the trade with the Chicago Bears that netted them Caleb Williams and the Panthers Bryce Young. It remains to be seen if either team got the better end of the quarterback stick on that deal, but it is quite clear that the Bears got a heck of a receiver.
Moore averaged over 1,000 yards per season as a Panther as a member of the team through some of the franchise’s worst ever offensive years. Season after season of almosts and nearly theres with him never being the problem endeared him to Carolina fans at a time when few other players were capturing their hearts. His inclusion in the Young trade still smarts for a lot of fans and will continue to do so until Young and McMillan can eclipse Moore’s limited successes in Charlotte.
