Three Panthers questions: Jaire Alexander, WR pecking order and kicking competition

New York Times

19 hours ago

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Media outlets in Cleveland have been charting Shedeur Sanders' passes. In Atlanta and Dallas, they've been waiting for Kirk Cousins and Micah Parsons, respectively, to show up. And in Pittsburgh, the Aaron Rodgers Waiting Game finally came to a merciful end.
Nothing signals the coming of summer quite like OTA/minicamp news around the NFL.
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By comparison, it's been a relatively quiet, two-week stretch in Charlotte, where the Carolina Panthers' biggest position battles are at center and kicker. But stability is a good thing for a franchise that was whipping through head coaches and quarterbacks at a dizzying rate not that long ago.
But there's still been interesting stuff to track, from tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders' offseason weight loss to how undrafted kicker Ryan Fitzgerald has fared on the skinny goal post. As the Panthers take the field Tuesday for the start of a three-day, mandatory minicamp, The Athletic looks at three questions facing the team.
The Panthers re-signed both starting cornerbacks during the offseason, giving Jaycee Horn a four-year, $100 million extension and bringing back Michael Jackson on a considerably cheaper contract (two years, $10.5 million). But when a 28-year-old corner with two Pro Bowl appearances comes available, he's worth a long look.
The Panthers are at least expected to do their due diligence on Alexander, according to league sources. That process likely will start with determining what kind of deal Alexander, who was set to make $17.5 million in Green Bay this year, is seeking.
Slotting Alexander opposite Horn would give the Panthers a pair of Pro Bowl corners under 30, and provide a boost to a defense that was the NFL's worst in 2024. It would also represent a homecoming for Alexander, who grew up in the Charlotte area before playing at Louisville and getting drafted in the first round by the Packers in 2018.
But Morgan, the Panthers' general manager, and the team's other decision-makers, should proceed with caution with Alexander, who has played more than seven games only once over the past four seasons. The Panthers dealt with injury issues with Horn, but decided to pay him after he changed his offseason regimen and stayed healthy in 2024.
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With the money they have tied up in Horn (who was briefly the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history), it's hard to envision the Panthers shelling out another lucrative contract at the position. Perhaps Alexander's health history forces him to take a one-year, prove-it deal.
But it's worth asking whether Alexander's big personality would mesh with the culture Dave Canales is trying to establish. The Panthers released Jadeveon Clowney — another Charlotte-area player — after one season in part because they didn't view him as a great locker room fit.
The Packers suspended Alexander for a game in 2023 after he went out for the coin toss uninvited (and nearly botched the call) before a Week 16 game at Bank of America Stadium. Alexander said he did so because the game was in Charlotte.
Alexander wasn't the only veteran defender released Monday. Bengals middle linebacker Germaine Pratt, a North Carolina native who played at N.C. State, was cut four months after requesting a trade. Pratt's a good player coming off a career-best 143-tackle season.
Much like Alexander, the Panthers should check in on Pratt's market. But based on early indications, it seems unlikely they'll make a big push for either player.
Full disclosure: It was a little difficult to follow parts of the OTA practices because of where the Panthers stuck media members at the practice facility, which is very much a construction zone as work continues on the new fieldhouse. But the view's been at least clear enough to see Tetairoa McMillan catching everything with his hands and Xavier Legette getting yards after the catch on crossing routes.
Canales, who's enjoyed an unobstructed view at practice, recently had some interesting observations on Hunter Renfrow, the former Las Vegas Raiders receiver who was out of the league last year.
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'You see weekly he just makes these huge strides, just getting his feet under him. And I can tell too, just having coached wide receivers especially, he's got a lot in his game,' Canales said. 'Releases, top of the route, set up, avoidance, different things where he can double up stuff at the top of his routes and you can see him kind of working through his inventory, kind of his tool bag.'
Jimmy Horn Jr., the sixth-round pick from Colorado, dropped a pass on a hitch route during the first week of OTAs, then was sidelined with a hamstring issue the second week. Horn has game-changing speed if he can hang on to the ball. Jalen Coker was back last week after missing time with a soft-tissue injury, and don't sleep on David Moore, who has a history with Canales and confidence after a nice bounce-back season in 2024.
It's probably too early to declare a leader in the battle for Eddy Pineiro's old job. Fitzgerald, the rookie from Florida State, got off to a rough start two weeks ago when he badly missed several field goals while kicking in the rain and wind. But the south Georgia native had a better showing last week, hitting 4 of 5 field goals on the Arena League-type goal post, with uprights about half the width of regulation NFL posts.
As to how Fitzgerald compared to veteran Matthew Wright, that's impossible to say. The 29-year-old Wright did not kick in either of the OTA practices that were open to the media. Presumably, reporters will get a chance to see both Fitzgerald and Wright in the minicamp sessions.
Special teams coordinator Tracy Smith said both players have demonstrated they're good workers who have been challenging each other this spring. Smith noted that Wright has one advantage — experience with the new kickoff rules implemented last season.
But Smith said he's looking forward to watching the competition continue into training camp. 'We're kind of seeing the pros and cons of each guy and seeing where it goes. There's no reason to really call a leader anywhere in the near future.'