Panthers rookie TE Mitchell Evans ‘fantastic athlete' who's ready to do whatever it takes

New York Times

19-05-2025

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — At the end of the first minicamp practice, Carolina Panthers coach Dave Canales had several rookies throw passes into the net used by quarterbacks during warmups. It was a team-building exercise pitting the first-year offensive players against their defensive counterparts.
Tight end Mitchell Evans was the only player to toss a ball into one of the target squares.
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'I was a little rusty. I missed the (first) two,' said Evans, a fifth-round pick and former high school quarterback in Ohio. 'Once I finally got warmed up a little bit, got the rust off, I finally hit it.'
Despite his QB background, Evans never attempted a pass at Notre Dame, where he led the Fighting Irish with 43 catches in 2024 and had eight career rushing attempts. Evans was not as multifaceted in college as Penn State tight end Tyler Warren, drafted 14th by the Indianapolis Colts after posting touchdowns as a receiver (eight), rusher (four) and passer (one) during his final season with the Nittany Lions.
Still, the Panthers believe there's a lot to like about Evans' versatile skill set, even if he only went 1-for-3 in the passing contest.
'We're excited about Mitch,' Canales said. 'He's a fantastic athlete.'
Evans grew up in a volleyball family in Wadsworth, Ohio, outside of Akron. His dad played football at Penn and Kent State, before transitioning to travel volleyball and coaching the sport at the club and high school levels. His mother was an all-conference player at Akron, where she's in the school's Hall of Fame, while his older sister Kacie played professionally for the Atlanta Vibe in 2024 after an All-SEC career at Georgia.
Though he never played organized volleyball, Evans is a fan.
'My sister started playing when she was like 7 or 8, so I would always get stuck going to the tournaments, going all around the country. I played pepper with people. I'd set the ball or play against the wall. I would do all that,' he said. 'I just watched it for so long, I understand it a lot. … I really love it. It's a good sport, very underrated.'
Evans was a quarterback his first two years of high school before hitting a growth spurt, which resulted in some back issues and prompted a move to tight end. The 6-foot-5 Evans wore a back brace throughout his junior season, when he caught seven touchdowns among his 19 receptions to get on the radar of college coaches.
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Because of the COVID pandemic, Evans had a weird recruiting process.
'I was having weeks where I'd have four-hour, five-hour days of just back-to-back, hour-long Zoom calls, whether it was coaches … just stayed on Zoom,' he said. 'We were talking ball. I was getting virtual campus tours. It was a whole ordeal.'
Evans committed to Notre Dame the summer before his senior season, when he returned to quarterback and was a second-team all-state selection after passing for 2,132 yards and 23 touchdowns. He enrolled early at Notre Dame in January 2021, estimating he missed Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble, who'd left South Bend to train for the NFL draft, by a matter of days.
But the two caught up that summer at a gathering of current and former Irish players at a lake house. Evans recalled Tremble offering some friendly advice.
'He was just telling me, 'Keep your head down and work. It's Notre Dame. It's Tight End U. So good things are gonna come if you just put your head down and work. Do what you're supposed to do, stay out of trouble and know your stuff, good things will come.''
According to the South Bend Tribune, every primary Notre Dame starting tight end since Anthony Fasano in 2006 has been drafted. The 12-player list includes one first-rounder (Tyler Eifert) and six second-round picks. Tremble, a third-rounder in 2021, re-signed with the Panthers for two years and $10.5 million in March after catching 85 passes for 782 yards and nine touchdowns in his first four seasons.
The Panthers assigned Evans a locker next to Tremble, one of several players who texted Evans after he was the eighth tight end drafted last month. He also heard from Bryce Young, Adam Thielen and Chuba Hubbard.
'When I got those texts, I was like, 'Oh, crap, this is pretty cool,'' Evans said.
Evans' goals as a rookie are to minimize mental mistakes and maximize his value to the team, in whatever form that takes.
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'Be a contributing factor in any facet, whether it's to catch a pass on third down, if on fourth down they want to put me at the Y and just run-block my butt off and if we need that yard, to get it,' he said. 'Or if it's on special teams, to make a tackle. Or if it's to protect the punt, whatever they want me to do, I wanna be able to get asked to do something and deliver on that.'
Evans, a three-year starter for the Fighting Irish, missed time with a broken foot in 2022 before a torn ACL ended his 2023 season early. He split his college snaps between the slot (47.2 percent) and on the line (42.1 percent), according to The Athletic's Dane Brugler.
More of a possession receiver than a yards-after-catch threat, only two of Evans' 43 receptions last year went for 25 yards or more. But scouts like Evans' football IQ and believe he can be productive in the run and pass games.
Canales concurs.
'Just looking at Mitch, what carries over from the film is just a really versatile guy. Whether it was the individual drills, going through blocking with (tight ends coach) Pat (McPherson), the footwork stuff, and then just being a reliable target,' the second-year coach said.
'He's a really smooth mover in his routes, plays compact at the top. So just all of those things, we just felt like a really well-rounded, clean football player and certainly fits into what we do.'