The Carolina Panthers announced on Tuesday that they’ve agreed to terms with wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette on a one-year deal. The report first came from NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport; Carolina had made the decision not to tender the 24-year-old, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Ihmir Smith-Marsette Stays with Carolina Panthers
Smith-Marsette will spend his second year with Carolina after playing with them last season, respectively. The wide receiver first entered the league in 2021 with the Minnesota Vikings, then spent the 2022 season with the Chicago Bears before being included in a trade to the Panthers from Kansas City just this last preseason.
Smith-Marsette overtime has been able to receive more snaps, incredibly pulling in all eight of his receptions in the last seven games of the season. He was also utilized as a source of speed out of the backfield, with a strong ability to hand off the ball for eight rushes for 74 yards and a touchdown. That touchdown marked just the second one of his career with the Panthers, his first coming during a Thursday night game against his former team, the Bears, where he returned a 79-yard punt for a score.
Opportunity to Grow
Smith-Marsette has stated before that he wants to play in Carolina for as long as he can. This gives him the opportunity to play with Bryce Young, the young, promising quarterback who can help the wide receiver down the road.
“I want to be here because first of all, the impact Bryce has on the game, the talent you see, the flashes he showed, it’s like, you don’t really get that a lot of places,” Smith-Marsette shared back in January. “So, it’s a lot of moving parts with quarterback play and stuff like that. That’s the capabilities he has, and I just want to be a part of that. I feel like I connect with him on the field. He sees what I see. I see what he sees. And it’s just like, we always seem to hit.”
In addition to being a strong receiver, Smith-Marsette has also been able to be a top-10 punt returner for the Panthers. He brought 37 punts last season for 322 yards, including the 79-yard touchdown.
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