Panthers sign 6’9” ex-basketball player as tight end to aid Bryce Young

The Carolina Panthers have made a surprising addition to their tight end room by signing a former Division I basketball player with no prior football experience.

Panthers sign 6’9” ex-basketball player as tight end to aid Bryce Young

Colin Granger (Image via Open Source/Instagram)

Picture this thought: a professional football team signs a former Division-I basketball player with absolutely no experience to cover their tight end position. While it may resemble the plot of a Hollywood film, this is, in fact, the latest strategic decision by the Carolina Panthers. The team has gotten the attention of its entire fanbase with this move.

Carolina signed Colin Granger, a former Division I career-basketball player, to their tight end position. The newest recruit has spent his college career playing at Ohio University, Montana State, Western Carolina, and Coastal Carolina. He will now find himself in an entirely different situation as his primary role will now be to run through defensive backs and safeties, and catch passes.

YouTube video

The decision is surprising because Colin Granger has not taken a single snap in college football and has no film on him, but the Panthers are confident that they can develop him into an NFL-caliber tight end. Granger has an advantage over most NFL players because he towers above them, standing at 6-foot-9″ and weighing 225 pounds.

The John’s Creek, Georgia native averaged 1.2 points and 1.2 rebounds over 25 games for Ohio University. His time at West Carolina University lasted longer, and his stats improved. Granger played in 64 games while averaging 2.5 points and 2.4 rebounds. Last season, in his final NCAA outing, Granger played for Coastal Carolina, averaging 7.2 points and 4.4 rebounds over 31 games.

Colin Granger has potential. In the eyes of the Panthers, he is a potential Travis Clayton, a player who, despite having no prior experience playing football, went on to have a respectable career as an offensive tackle. Hopefully, Granger’s journey as a tight end in the NFL does not end up being similar to Tim Tebow’s.

The Carolina Panthers have made Colin Granger the sixth man in their tight end room

With the addition of Granger, the Panthers now have Tommy Tremble, Ja’Tavion Sanders, Jordan Matthews, James Mitchell, and Dominique Dafney ahead of him. Carolina has been active during free agency. The team made history after extending cornerback Jaycee Horn to a four-year, $100 million deal and signed Rico Dowdle from the Cowboys.

Colin Granger
Colin Granger (Image via Open Source)

The Panthers have continued to strengthen their defense by adding solid pieces at Safety and cornerback. Carolina is likely to go all-in on improving their offense through the NFL Draft. Their offense requires improvements on the offensive line and at wide receiver. Carolina witnessed some improvement this year as the team finished with a 5-12 record. The franchise is not yet fully confident in Bryce Young‘s ability to lead the team’s resurrection to the top of the NFC South.

It will be interesting to see how Carolina’s bet on Colin Granger plays out. It certainly is not the first time that an inexperienced player has entered the NFL. Jordan Mailata, the offensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles, had never played a snap of football before the franchise took a bet on the rugby player and drafted him 233rd overall in 2020.

It is also not the first time that HC Dave Canales and General Manager Dan Morgan have thought outside the box. During their previous stint in Seattle, they signed George Fant, a former hybrid athlete who played basketball and football at Western Kentucky. The duo is looking to achieve the same result with Granger because he was referred to them by none other than George Fant who has been working with him to develop him.