The Panthers wide receiver makes sense as an easy Chiefs trade target

On Sunday, the Carolina Panthers actually won a game.

Get this: Not only did the Panthers win a rare game — just their second of the season — but they did it with a solid offensive performance. Even more amazingly, this comes after trading away Diontae Johnson and without injured wide receiver Adam Thielen. The cherry on top: they had Bryce Young back under center after trading him to Andy Dalton earlier this year.

With those pieces in place, you might think the young offense came together to also include a young wideout named Jonathan Mingo for the Panthers. After all, without Thielen or Johnson, the passing attack needed someone to step up, and as a second-year wideout, this is the ideal time for Mingo to seize this opportunity.

Unfortunately, such hopes are unfounded. Mingo is so far in the Panthers’ doghouse that even without the team’s best wide receivers entering the year, he still can’t find his way into the team’s game plan in any way.

If you’re wondering if the Panthers are ready to trade Mingo away, just look at his usage. He is a healthy 23-year-old wide receiver who was a top-40 draft pick a year ago in a loaded broad recipient class. Rather than feature him, however, the Panthers have benched him for the past few weeks in a not-so-obvious attempt to prove something to someone — we’re just not sure what it is.

On Sunday, the Panthers beat the New Orleans Saints in a close 23-22 game where Mingo earned 1 goal and didn’t catch it. Over his previous three games, he had only earned 4 targets and caught just one pass, meaning he has exactly 1 catch for 1 yard in his last 1 month in the NFL.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Panthers front office decided to invest the 39th overall pick in Mingo during the 2023 NFL Draft. While Dan Morgan wasn’t the general manager at the time, he was the assistant GM, so it seems odd that the team would be mad at someone so quickly when those still in the building are the ones who made the investment — or at least some of them.

Given the clear lack of playing time or even interest in using him in any capacity, Mingo seems like an easy option for any team on the outside still looking for a wide receiver. And according to Dianna Russini, NFL insider for The Athletic, that describes the Kansas City Chiefs these days.

Per Russini, the Chiefs are hungry for another wideout even after trading DeAndre Hopkins, and that’s because of the number of injuries at the position. Skyy Moore was the latest player to be lost for several weeks, coming on the heels of JuJu Smith-Schuster’s hamstring injury along with season-ending injuries to Hollywood Brown and Rashee Rice. Hopkins’ addition helps, but another healthy player would lighten the load for the stretch run.

Enter Mingo, who would be a risk-free flyer for a potentially high-ceiling player. Mingo had 43 catches for 418 yards, so at least he’s proven to be more productive than Moore. He came into the league as an enticing mix of size and athleticism, but he has yet to really put it all together in the pros. Then again, we’re talking about the Panthers’ offense — the kind of dumpster fire that costs people their jobs.

With Kansas City, Mingo could serve as ideal insurance in place of Smith-Schuster’s current role and Rashee Rice’s eventual suspension. He also exists for a few more years as a cost-controlled asset that could give the Chiefs an exciting new young player to mold going forward. And again, if that doesn’t work out, it’s hard to believe the Chiefs would have jettisoned much of anything in the first place.

While Mingo’s price tag was an early second-rounder a year ago, the Panthers aren’t even interested in showing him off to others or developing him for their own use. That should keep a cost low, and it gives the Chiefs a short- and long-term asset that fits the club’s needs.