The Panthers have drafted a wide receiver in the first round of each of the last two drafts and they’re meeting with one of this year’s top prospects at the position.
Jordan Reid of ESPN.com reports that Omar Cooper Jr. is set to visit with the NFC South team. Cooper took part in Indiana’s Pro Day on Wednesday.
Cooper led the Hoosiers with 69 catches and 937 receiving yards on their way to the national title. He also caught 13 touchdowns, which left him two behind team leader Elijah Sarratt.
Tetairoa McMillan was the Panthers’ 2025 first-round pick and he won offensive rookie of the year last season. The Panthers, who have the 19th overall pick this year, traded into the first round to select Xavier Legette in 2024.
The Titans are adding another quarterback to their roster.
Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Hendon Hooker has agreed to sign with Tennessee.
Hooker, a third-round pick in the 2023 draft, was most recently with the Jets. He had signed with the team’s practice squad late in the 2025 season and was promoted to the 53-man roster in January.
The Lions had waived Hooker in August while reducing their roster to 53 players and he signed with the Panthers’ practice squad a couple of days later.
Hooker has appeared in just three regular-season games, all in the 2024 season with Detroit. He’s completed 6-of-9 passes for 62 yards.
With the addition of Hooker, the Titans will have five quarterbacks on their offseason roster with Mitchell Trubisky, Brandon Allen, and Will Levis all behind 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward. It stands to reason that at least one will be moved in the coming weeks, with Levis being a prime candidate after recovering from a shoulder injury that kept him out for all of last season.
Running back Jonathon Brooks has played only three games since the Panthers drafted him in the second round in 2024. He missed all of 2025 with a twice-repaired ACL in his right knee.
Coach Dave Canales announced Monday that Brooks is expected to participate in offseason workouts, saying Brooks has progressed to the point where he’s ready to be “put in a football scenario with other people around him.’'
“I know what he looked like prior to the injury,’' Canales said at the NFL owners meetings Monday, via David Newton of ESPN. “I know what that player looks like, so I have that in the back of my mind. And that’s a vision that I hope he has, too, so we can go and attack that.’'
Brooks’ first knee surgery came in November 2023 while he was at the University of Texas. The Panthers still used the 46th overall pick on him, knowing he would miss most of his rookie season.
Brooks missed nine games in 2024 before re-injuring the knee in his third career game, forcing him to miss all of last season.
His expected return is why the Panthers let Rico Dowdle walk, leaving Brooks, Chuba Hubbard, AJ Dillon and Trevor Etienne in the running backs room.
“We’ll make sure we do the right thing for Jonathon for sure,” Canales said. “But I see the excitement. He’s been in the building, he’s been working out, full training with our guys. I know that he’s excited about this opportunity.’'
The Orlando Storm have named Jack Plummer the team’s starter, James Larsen of UFL Newsroom reports.
Plummer beat out Dorian Thompson-Robinson during the team’s UFL camp.
Plummer, 26, spent 2024 and the 2025 offseason and preseason with the Panthers. Carolina signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2024.
He appeared in six preseason games for the Panthers, completing 66 of 106 passes (68.6 percent) for 616 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
Plummer has never played in a regular-season game.
Thompson-Robinson, 26, was a fifth-round pick of the Browns in 2023. He has played 15 games with five starts in his NFL career, but did not play a down in 2025 after the Eagles waived him out of the preseason.
Orlando begins its season on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET against the Columbus Aviators.
New Panthers left tackle Rasheed Walker was arrested at LaGuardia Airport on Jan. 23 after telling an airline employee he had a firearm and ammunition in his baggage. He was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm.
Walker, via David Newton of ESPN, said Thursday that the charges will be dismissed.
During his introductory news conference on Thursday, Walker referred all other questions to his attorney,
The gun was licensed in Wisconsin, and Walker’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, told the New York Post in January that Walker was unaware he couldn’t travel with a licensed firearm in a locked box.
Walker, who started 48 games in four seasons with the Packers, signed a one-year deal worth up to $10 million with the Panthers in free agency.
