Jalen Coker (ankle) not in uniform on Thursday

Seems there’s little doubt that Coker will play on Thursday night. He’ll likely be removed from the injury report on Wednesday. Even after last week’s fiasco he likely belongs in the WR2 ranks.

The Panthers won’t have their first official practice until Tuesday, but Coker would have been limited on Monday had the team been on the field. Coker caught one pass for nine yards in Week 7’s loss to the Buccaneers. His struggles came on a day when the entire Panthers offense was stymied for much of the day, so hopefully he’ll be in line to bounce back against the Packers on Thursday if he is active.

Coker was also the intended target on the first of Bryce Young’s two interceptions. The wideout fell down, leading to the miscue. It was simply a nightmarish day for the Panthers’ offense, who also watched Young cough up a fumble-six. With the Panthers trailing 33-6 at halftime and 43-6 at the 10:21 mark of the fourth, the first-team offense sat for the game’s final 10 minutes. A disaster for fantasy managers, but likely a short-lived one with the Panthers heading to Green Bay for a short-week Thursday night matchup with the Pack. Coker must still be fired up as a WR2 for that one.

Coker missed Week 4 with a quad injury but was able to heal up over the bye week and play a full complement of snaps in Week 6. Initial reports had him playing 59 of the team’s 79 snaps and running a route on 39 of 46 dropbacks, which was second most on the team. He also led the team in targets, catches, and receiving yards. He’s a rock-solid WR2 against the Bucs next week.

Panthers coach Dave Canales told reporters earlier this week that Coker was returning from both quad and ankle injuries, though the team is only listing the quad issue. We take this as a good sign for his overall health. Coker can be treated as a WR2 in his first game back, facing an Eagles defense that struggles to cover opposing slot receivers.

Coker was spotted practicing on Tuesday (there will be no injury report for this one) and seems like he’s well on track to return. He’ll be a fringe WR2/WR3 against the Eagles in Week 6.

This was though to be the most likely scenario after head coach Dave Canales told reporters Friday that the team would elevate Ja’Seem Reed if the belief was that Coker could not go on Sunday Night Football. Reed was, in fact, elevated Saturday and Coker was declared inactive. Brycen Tremaine appears to be in line for a featured role after playing 81 percent of the team’s offensive snaps a week ago. Expect John Metchie to also see additional snaps and opportunities, while David Moore could see package usage on the perimeter. Also inactive for the Panthers are TE Ja’Tavion Sanders, QB Haynes King, G Damien Lewis, OT Albert Reese, and DT Cam Jackson.

Coker injured his quad in Week 3. He got in two limited practices this week before being listed as questionable. It doesn’t sound like a long-term injury, but the team is being cautious with a young wideout who has already suffered multiple lower-body injuries this year. With Xavier Legette on IR, Brycen Tremayne is Carolina’s WR2 for Week 4.

This is notable considering head coach Dave Canales previously said that the team would only elevated Reed if Coker couldn’t go in Week 4. Coker, listed as questionable, now appears on the worse side of the designation ahead of a Week 4 meeting with the Lions on Sunday Night Football. Fantasy managers are better off making contingent plans now considering the Panthers are the penultimate game of the week.

After being a DNP on Wednesday, Coker logged back-to-back limited practices to close out the week. Coker played through an ankle injury in Weeks 2 and 3, and will likely play through his quad injury this week in a Sunday night matchup against the Lions. Hopefully we’ll get more clarity on his availability later in the weekend, but for now, we expect him to play. That said, managers would be wise to stash a Sunday/Monday night emergency option in the unlikely event Coker is ruled out when inactives are announced 90 minutes before kickoff.