Trevor Etienne spent his rookie year doing what good depth players are supposed to do: stay ready and wait for the call.
The Panthers running back barely saw the ball outside of special teams work, but he says he handled that role the right way. “It's your job.
"I like to say, 'stuck on ready, waiting on go.' "
That mindset will matter again when Carolina opens training camp Wednesday at the practice fields behind Bank of America Stadium. Etienne enters his second season with a chance to carve out a real RB3 role after finishing last year with 94 yards on 20 carries. Through 11 games, he was on the field for only seven percent of the Panthers’ offensive snaps, mostly in what he called “garbage” time as Carolina went 8-9 and won the NFC South for the first time since 2015.
“When my name is called, I try to make sure that there’s no drop-off, there’s no doubt or anything. My teammates and peers expect me to go out there and do my job, and that’s what I need to do when my name is called.”
Etienne was part of a rookie class that gave Carolina real volume last season. Twelve first-year players made the 53-man roster, with wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan leading the way and later earning NFL Rookie of the Year honors.
But not every second-year player is walking into camp with the same kind of runway. With the Panthers set to open the 2026 season Aug. 6 against the Arizona Cardinals in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, some of those sophomores are still fighting for their place.
Jimmy Horn Jr. is one of them.
The sixth-round receiver started last season on the practice squad before making his debut Oct. 5 and helping spark a comeback. His biggest moment came on a 17-yard fourth-down catch from Bryce Young that kept the game-winning drive alive.
Horn finished with 11 catches on 15 targets for 108 yards, and 71 of those yards came after the catch. He also had one drop. In all, he played 148 snaps.
Now the challenge gets bigger. Carolina is bringing 13 wide receivers into camp, and Horn’s size - 5-foot-8, 174 pounds - means he’ll have to win with burst, wiggle and the kind of quick-hit playmaking that gives a passing game a different flavor.
The top of the depth chart is crowded with size. The Panthers’ projected top four receivers all check in at least 6-3: McMillan at 6-5, Jalen Coker at 6-3, Xavier Legette at 6-3 and rookie Chris Brazzell II at 6-4.
Veteran David Moore, listed at 6-0, is still a coach Dave Canales favorite, while Brycen Tremayne brings special-teams versatility at 6-4. That leaves Horn in a direct fight with John Metchie III, who is 5-11, for what could be one of the more fragile roster spots on the team.
And there’s another wrinkle: the Panthers have kept seven wide receivers on cutdown day the past two seasons. When Coker was asked June 16 on a teleconference whether there was a path to carrying eight, he sounded unconvinced.
“I don’t know," he said. "I don’t know.”
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