First-round draft picks may be the most valuable commodity an NFL team has. However, you can't make your entire roster out of them—as there are only so many to go around.
Strong front offices know how to fill out the rest of their team with second- and third-day gems, in addition to the occasional undrafted free agent who becomes a real contributor. For the Carolina Panthers, they have at least one absolute stud who came out of nowhere.
Third-year receiver Jalen Coker is proving to be an extremely potent weapon for a player who went undrafted out of Holy Cross back in 2024. In fact, some folks think Coker is the best receiver on the team, including one guy who would know as well as anybody.
Here's what former Panthers wideout Adam Thielen had to
say about it, per Joe Person at The Athletic.
“I truly believe that he is their best receiver and he has the ability to be one of the better receivers in the league. He doesn’t have a weakness,” Thielen said on Matthew Berry’s fantasy football show. “He’s 230 pounds and runs a 4.4. He is a massive target who — I think there was a game my last year in Carolina where he ran like 22 miles per hour. So the guy can run and he’s huge.”
Some may read this as a slight against 2025 first-rounder Tetairoa McMillan, especially after he led the team in receiving yards (1,014) and touchdowns (seven) last season en route to the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.
We don't see it that way, though. Coker seems to have better chemistry with starting quarterback Bryce Young, perhaps thanks to an extra year together compared to McMillan.
Coker's game is also more refined than McMillan, who's still a bit raw as he enters his second year in the NFL. Being fast and big certainly doesn't hurt Coker's game, but he's also a tremendous route runner.
Last week's regular-season opener saw Coker go for a career-high 138 receiving yards and two touchdowns on eight grabs. Over his last two games, Coker has racked up 17 catches, 272 yards and three touchdowns.
As Thielen hints at, this may be just the beginning of something special.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Former Panthers WR makes an interesting declaration about who the team's best pass catcher is
