Somewhere Cam Newton has to by crying foul as he’s getting an offseason manicure. The Carolina Panthers have lost Steve Smith, Ted Ginn and Brandon LaFell within the first week of the new league year. This leaves the the Panthers with five wide receivers you may or may not have heard of, and one other with a hilariously awkward name.
Let’s meet your six current Carolina Panthers wide receivers…
Marvin McNutt (five career games, zero receptions)
Robert Mayer, USA Today: Cam sure hopes McNutt does the McNutt all over the place in 2014.
How could parents by so cruel to name their child Marvin when they are already coming into this world with the last name McNutt? That’s something I will never understand. McNutt was a sixth-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles back in 2012, but only suited up with the team for a total of four games.
The former Iowa standout did record 82 receptions for 1,315 yards and 12 touchdowns in his senior season back in 2011. It’s likely at this point that Carolina will need him to duplicate that performance if its going to have any shot at actually completing forward passes in 2014. I kid, I kid. There is still time for Dave Gettleman and Co. to push McNutt down to say…the No. 2 wide receiver position.
Tavarres King (zero career games, zero receptions)
Isaiah Downing, USA Today: King came THIS close to being able to give a mile-high salute in Denver.
The Denver Broncos actually took King in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL draft before cutting him loose prior to the start of the season. When your selected anywhere in the first five rounds and don’t make it out of camp, it’s definitely not a good thing.
Just to let you know, Kenny Stills, Denard Robinson and Quinton Patton were the three wide receivers taken before King in that draft. Talk about just missing out by a round or two.
In any event, King didn’t suit up for a single game in Carolina last season, not even as a special teams player. He did, however, put up 950 yards and eight scores in his final season at Georgia. Hey, at least the Panthers have some productive collegiate receivers on the roster. That’s sure to work well against the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks of the world.
R.J. Webb (zero career games, zero receptions)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyyd3CUpMdM
There isn’t much to know about Webb simply because there isn’t a whole lot out there on him. He’s two seasons removed from catching passes at Furman. Yeah, that’s actually a school with a college football program. He caught 85 passes for 1,082 yards and eight touchdowns in 29 career college games.
Hey though, Webb was a highly-touted recruit out of the prestigious Pickens High School. He was also coached by all-time NFL great Sam Wyche in high school. Just think about the awesomeness behind that. Let’s play eight degrees of separation between Bill Walsh and Webb for a second. Okay, done.
Maybe this small-school product becomes the next Jerry Rice. I mean, the two have so much in common. Small school, Bill Walsh and Sam Wyche. What could possibly go wrong here?
Kealoha Pilares (eight career games, two receptions, 42 yards and one touchdown)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3keBzhOtknA
Let’s try to pronounce this name together. Okay, never mind. Maybe we can just settle for a highlight.
The Panthers selected Pilares in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL draft. He actually caught a pass for a touchdown and returned a kick for another touchdown as a rookie in 2011. That was all she wrote. He appeared in eight games back in 2012 before failing to see action in a single outing last year, as he was placed on injured reserve back in August.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, Denarius Moore and Jeremy Kerley, who would both be their No. 1 wide receiver right now, were the two wide receivers selected after Pilares in 2011. That’s not good. Hey at least, he holds the Panthers all-time record for the longest kick return in franchise history.
Toney Clemons (four career games, three receptions, 41 yards and zero touchdowns)
USA Today, Stock: Call on me Cam, I’m ready…
Don’t look now, but that’s now two receivers on the Panthers roster who have caught a regular season NFL pass. Clemons put up his mind-boggling statistics for the Jacksonville Jaguars back in 2012 after they picked him up off the street from the Pittsburgh Steelers that summer.
The one claim to fame for Clemons is that he became the first college football player to suit up in the Big 10, Big 12 and Pac 12. That’s mighty impressive in of itself. Let’s see if he can actually catch a pass from a former SEC quarterback. That would be some sort of a record, right?
Brenton Bersin (zero career games, zero receptions)
Photo, Yahoo: That’s not good for anyone.
Unfortunately for this Wofford College product, his NFL career didn’t start off too kindly (as you can see above). As if going from Wofford College (that exists) to the NFL isn’t a dramatic change in lifestyle, leave it to the Panthers veterans to haze him (via Yahoo).
Bersin, who has yet to see action in a regular season game, does have a Klout score of 48 on Twitter. Now that’s something to brag about.
Photo: Kirby Lee, USA Today