Drafted in the second round of this past April, Funchess was brought to Carolina to be a complimentary piece to last year’s number one pick Kelvin Benjamin. Unfortunately, Benjamin went down during training camp with an ACL injury, leaving Funchess as the Panthers only big bodied receiver.
While many thought that the Panthers would bring in a free agent to supplant the loss of Benjamin, Carolina stood tall and decided to stick with the group that they had already assembled. With an older Jerricho Cotchery, sometimes stone handed Ted Ginn, and two young guys in Corey Brown and Devin Funchess, the Panthers receiving core was now looked at as a weakness.