Everyone wants to know what happened to Hunter Renfrow. He went from the Pro Bowl in 2021 to an afterthought in 2022 and 2023 to out of the league in 2024.
Renfrow ow is attempting a comeback with the Panthers.
“It’s just trying to get back, trying to get healthy, trying to do something I love,” Renfrow told Darin Gantt of the team website when asked about a year out of the game. “I enjoyed other parts of life. We had our second daughter, so enjoying that and just wanting to make sure if I’m going to come back and give my time and attention to something that I was going to be all in on it.”
Renfrow, 29, revealed that he has dealt with a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, which left him with weight loss, fatigue and high fever. It’s a reason he did not play last season.
Instead, Renfrow spent a year consulting with doctors and getting the condition under control.
“It kicked my butt pretty good,” Renfrow said. “Last year, I fluctuated in weight. I went down to 150 pounds. I had like seven straight days of 103-degree fevers. It’s tough to play when you’re not feeling great.”
He now weighs 187 with a goal of a playing weight of 185.
“It’s a weird feeling. It makes you grateful for the times that you do feel good,” Renfrow said. “It makes you grateful for the opportunities that you’ve had, and when you feel like you’ve been blessed with some skill to go out there and perform, it makes you not want to waste the opportunity that you have. And that was one of the reasons why I wanted to come back and play.”
In five seasons, Renfrow has 269 receptions for 2,884 yards and 17 touchdowns.
The Panthers are bringing in another potential weapon for their offense.
Carolina announced on Sunday night that the club has agreed to terms with veteran receiver Hunter Renfrow.
Renfrow, 29, did not play in 2024 after the Raiders released him in March of that year. While he’s dealt with injuries, he did appear in all 17 games with three starts for Las Vegas in 2023, catching 25 passes for 255 yards.
A fifth-round pick in 2019, Renfrow’s most productive season was 2021, when he helped the Raiders reach the postseason by catching 103 passes for 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns. He was a Pro Bowler that year.
In 73 career games with 23 starts, Renfrow has 269 career receptions for 2,884 yards with 17 TDs.
A South Carolina native, Renfrow won two CFP National Championships with Clemson and will now be back in the South.
The Panthers are bringing in the son of one of the top receivers in franchise history.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that they have agreed to sign Muhsin “Moose” Muhammad III as an undrafted free agent. His father is second in Panthers history in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns after playing 11 years for the team in the 1990s and 2000s.
The younger Muhammad also plays wideout and spent his college time at Texas A&M. He had 81 catches for 1,163 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The Panthers drafted Tetairoa McMillan in the first round of the draft and Jimmy Horn Jr. in the sixth round. Adam Thielen, Jalen Coker, Xavier Legette, and David Moore are also in the receiver room in Carolina.
Panthers General Manager Dan Morgan said earlier this month that the team was taking its time before making a decision about exercising their fifth-year option on left tackle Ickey Ekwonu’s contract and they’ve now come to a conclusion.
Morgan told reporters at a Saturday press conference that the team will be picking up the option. Ekwonu, who was the sixth overall pick of the 2022 draft, is now guaranteed a salary of $17.56 million.
Ekwonu has started 49 games since entering the NFL and the team will now decide if they want to hammer out a longer term deal with the tackle.
Morgan’s comments came after the Panthers made their eighth and final selection in this year’s draft. They did not select any offensive linemen.
The Panthers had pre-draft talks with other teams about trading edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney, David Newton of ESPN reports.
It is unclear where those talks stand now that the draft is into the third day, but it does cast uncertainty about Clowney’s future in Carolina. The Panthers have added edge rushers Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen since the draft started.
General Manager Dan Morgan twice was asked about whether Clowney is part of the team’s plans for 2025, and he was noncommittal.
“We’re still working through the roster,” Morgan said, via Newton. “We’re still talking through things. Obviously, we’re focused on the draft right now and what’s in front of us.”
Clowney, 32, is in the final year of a two-year, $20 million deal he signed with Carolina a year ago. He is set to count $13.775 million against the salary cap after having 5.5 sacks last season.
The No. 1 overall pick in 2014 has never had more than 9.5 sacks in a season and has only 58 in his 11-year career.
