Panthers rookie camp: Carolina signs six draft picks, 19 undrafted free agents
The Carolina Panthers reached deals with six of their eight draft picks ahead of this weekend’s rookie minicamp.
Wideout Tetairoa McMillan (first round), pass rusher Princely Umanmielen (third round), safety Lathan Ransom (fourth round), defensive tackle Cam Jackson (fifth round), tight end Mitchell Evans (fifth round) and receiver/returner Jimmy Horn Jr. (sixth round) signed with the squad on Thursday. The terms of the contracts weren’t immediately made available.
Pass rusher Nic Scourton (second round) and running back Trevor Etienne (fourth round) have yet to sign their deals. However, draft picks are eligible to sign practice waivers in order to provide insurance to participate in the rookie minicamp.
Panthers officially sign 19 undrafted rookies to 90-man roster
Along with getting most of their draft class squared away, the Panthers also officially signed 19 undrafted free agents ahead of the two-day rookie minicamp in Charlotte.
The team announced the signings of all 19 rookies in one huge wave following the release of eight returning players — including veteran pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney and tight end Jordan Matthews — in a post-draft roster shakeup.
The following undrafted rookies signed contracts with the team ahead of Friday’s initial rookie workout:
QB: Ethan Garbers (UCLA)
RB: Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams (Michigan State)
WR: Jacolby George (Miami), Kobe Hudson (UCF), Muhsin Muhammad III (Texas A&M)
TE: Bryce Pierre (UCLA)
OL: Luke Kandra (Cincinnati), Steven Losoya (Vanderbilt), Michael Tarquin (Oklahoma)
DL: Jared Harrison-Hunte (SMU)
LB: Bam Martin-Scott (South Carolina), Tuasivi Nomura (Fresno State)
CB: JaTravis Broughton (TCU), Mike Reid (South Dakota), Corey Thornton (Louisville)
S: Isaac Gifford (Nebraska), Jack Henderson (Minnesota), Trevian Thomas (Arkansas State)
K: Ryan Fitzgerald (Florida State)
Garbers is expected to be the only quarterback in attendance during the minicamp, while Fitzgerald will be the only specialist. With just three offensive linemen set to attend the weekend workouts, the Panthers are likely to be limited to individual drills throughout the minicamp.
Along with the 19 undrafted free agents who were signed Thursday, the team previously added defensive end Maz Mwansa, an NFL International Pathway player, last week. Mwansa won’t count against the offseason roster as he was given an international player exemption for the summer.
Thielen, Ekwonu offer advice ahead of Panthers rookie minicamp
The Panthers’ 2025 draft class — along with more than a dozen undrafted rookies and several other tryout players — will look to make a strong first impression on Friday when the team launches its annual rookie minicamp in uptown.
The two-day minicamp will give the rookies a crash course into the playbook, while also staging a quick competition among the several tryout players and undrafted free agents in attendance. While a two-day evaluation period seems like a tight turnaround, the opportunity can potentially lead to a notable NFL career.
Just ask two-time Pro Bowl wideout Adam Thielen, who started his NFL career as a tryout player at Minnesota Vikings minicamp in 2013. Thielen, 34, forced his way onto the training camp roster with a quick showcase at the minicamp, and he eventually worked his way up the ranks to become a starting wideout by 2016.
Thielen, who has led the Panthers in receiving yards during his two seasons in Carolina, said he made the most of the rookie minicamp slate by living in the moment.
His advice for the incoming rookie class might seem peculiar, but it’s based on his reality, which has led to numerous accolades, including being the Panthers’ 2024 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee.
“It’s kind of weird, but I would say be delusional,” Thielen said last week. “And what I mean by that is I look back at it and I’m more nervous now looking back at it than I was in the moment because in the moment I was a little delusional in the fact that I’m probably not going to make it because I was undrafted (and) unsigned. I went in there as a tryout guy and I had this delusional mindset of like I’m just going to go out there and I’m going to be on the team even though the percentages are less than 1% that they’re going to have to cut a guy that they just signed to sign me.
“So I think you just like live in the moment and you just be delusional for a weekend. ... Like, ‘Hey, I’m going to go out there and I’m better than these guys and I’m going to beat them out and I’m going to make the team.’”
Hunter Renfrow — a veteran wide receiver who spent last season out of football as he dealt with ulcerative colitis — signed with the Panthers during draft weekend. He joined the team after Carolina selected Tetairoa McMillan in the first round and Jimmy Horn Jr. in the sixth round at his position.
Before his brief NFL exodus, Renfrow was a Pro Bowl playmaker with the Las Vegas Raiders. The 2019 fifth-round pick out of Clemson had a leg up on tryout players during his rookie minicamp, but he still understood the assignment of the two-day workout.
Renfrow wanted to make a positive impression. He did that with his approach, which he said had more to do with his presence than his playing prowess.
“Just be where your feet are,” Renfrow said. “Like, just try to be the best that day. ... There’s so much you can’t control on a football field: if they call your number, they throw you the pass, they design a play for you. But you can control effort and you can control attitude, and if you can control those things, it doesn’t matter, you’ll be successful at whatever you do.”
Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, the Panthers’ first-round pick in 2022, recently had his fifth-year option picked up for 2026. But when he was first starting out, he attended rookie minicamp ready to learn.
The N.C. State alum, now entering his fourth season, remembers being given a lot of instruction in a hurry.
With his younger brother, former Charlotte 49ers linebacker Osita Ekwonu, set to try out for the Panthers this weekend, the 24-year-old left tackle can reflect on his own rookie minicamp and find some hindsight wisdom from the experience.
“They definitely throw a lot at you,” Ekwonu said. “You’re only there a couple of days, so just find someone to kind of lean on, I guess. For me, obviously for the draft position I had coming in, those guys were like really proactive in reaching out to me and making sure I understood some of that stuff. So, really just not being scared to kind of talk to coaches — and if you have a question and need to learn something, not being afraid to kind of go to those higher-ups and ask questions you need to ask.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
