The Carolina Panthers are bolstering their broad receiving corps ahead of Tuesday’s 4:00 p.m. ET deadline for the 53-man roster. According to CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones, the Panthers trade for Kansas City Chiefs wideout Ihmir Smith-Marsette. The two teams trade the conditional seventh-rounders of 2025.
Smith-Marsette caught nine passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns in three preseason games this year. His 195 receiving yards ranked second to the Cleveland Browns’ Austin Watkins Jr., who caught 16 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns in four exhibition games played.
The Iowa product was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He was released before the 2022 regular season and claimed by the Chicago Bears, but was released again just a month later. From there, Smith-Marsette made his way to the Chiefs practice team. In 16 NFL games played, Smith-Marsette has caught six passes for 131 yards and four touchdowns.
Smith-Marsette faced stiff competition in the Chiefs’ receiver room that included Skyy Moore, Richie James, Justyn Ross, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Justin Watson, Kadarius Toney and rookie Rashee Rice. That’s not to say Carolina lacks pass catchers. Overall No. 1 Bryce Young is made up of DJ Chark, Terrace Marshall Jr., Adam Thielen, Jonathan Mingo and Laviska Shenault Jr. but the group has been struggling with some injuries lately. General Manager Scott Fitterer identified Smith-Marsette as a player he didn’t want to let miss hits, but since the price of doing so is a future conditional pick swap in the seventh round, that doesn’t mean he won a spot in the Regular season squad guaranteed.