Despite spending their past two first-round picks on wide receivers, the Panthers could return to the well this 12 months. They may host Indiana receiver Omar Cooper Jr. on a “30” visit, Jordan Reid of ESPN reports.
After redshirting as a freshman, Cooper finished with 18 catches for 267 yards and two touchdowns in nine games in 2023. Like the remaining of the Indiana program, though, Cooper found one other gear under head coach Curt Cignetti from 2024-25.
While Cooper only had 28 receptions in 13 games in Cignetti’s first season, he averaged a jaw-dropping 21.2 yards per catch and hauled in seven touchdowns. The 6-foot, 200-pounder moved to the slot last 12 months and played an integral role within the Hoosiers’ 16-0, national title-winning campaign. Teaming up with quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who transferred from California, Cooper finished with 69 catches, 937 yards (13.6 YPC) and 13 receiving TDs.
Each Mendoza, who’s all but guaranteed to go No. 1 overall, and Cooper are riding high because the draft nears. Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com ranks Cooper because the 18th-best prospect on this 12 months’s class, writing that he “suits the precise model of wideouts finding immediate success within the NFL.”
With the Panthers holding the nineteenth pick, Cooper may very well be of their wheelhouse. The team has “done plenty of work on receivers” leading as much as the draft, in keeping with Reid. The Panthers have made big draft investments on the position lately, though they haven’t all worked out. Terrace Marshall (2021) and Jonathan Mingo (2023) are out of the organization after flopping as second-rounders under previous general manager Scott Fitterer. Dan Morgan, then a rookie GM, traded into the primary round in 2024 to take Xavier Legette thirty second overall. Legette has since posted unspectacular numbers, though 2025 eighth overall selection Tetairoa McMillan had an incredible first season en path to Offensive Rookie of the Yr honors.
The Panthers even have a young slot receiver in two-year veteran Jalen Coker, but there may be room so as to add one other talented pass catcher like Cooper to help quarterback Bryce Young. While the Panthers will exercise Young’s fifth-year option, they may must see more from the 2023 No. 1 pick before doling out an extension.