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When the Carolina Panthers traded up and selected quarterback Bryce Young with the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, people were right to wonder who his top receiver would be. Carolina, after all, did send three-time 1,110-yard receiver D.J. Moore to Chicago as part of that deal.
The Panthers went out and signed free-agent veteran wideouts D.J. Chark and Adam Thielen. They also brought in tight end Hayden Hurst and drafted Jonathan Mingo with their second-round pick. Add in holdovers Terrace Marshall Jr. and Laviska Shenault Jr. and it's not exactly a group that exudes confidence.
That was before the injuries started piling up, too. Half of those names listed above have something hampering them as the start of the regular season nears. So what is the latest on Chark?
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D.J. Chark Injury Update For Fantasy Football
Chark missed practice on Wednesday with what the team says is a hamstring injury.
Head coach Frank Reich noted that the team does not have any plans to add to the wide receiver room, providing further confirmation that it doesn't appear to be a serious issue.
Chark joins Shenault (concussion protocol) and Marshall (back) on the list of injured Panthers' wideouts.
D.J. Chark 2023 Fantasy Football Outlook
Chark is a sleeper candidate for some analysts at the wide receiver position, because of the lack of an alpha wide receiver on the Panthers' roster. Thielen is past his prime, Mingo is an unproven rookie, and Marshall only has 45 catches across his first two seasons in the league. Chark does have a 1,000-yard season under his belt--2019 with Jacksonville--but has not played a full season in his five-year career.
The 26-year-old is coming off a season with the Lions where he caught 30 passes for 502 yards and three touchdowns across 11 games. Chark did not have enough catches to qualify on the yards-per-reception leaderboard, but he would have ranked fifth in the league (16.75 yards) if he had.
That makes Chark a semi-interesting player to draft late in best ball formats, but he's not a particularly exciting target in redraft leagues. RotoBaller writer Robert Lorge recently detailed why Mingo should be the wide receiver to target in Carolina. If you want to draft a late-round receiving option in this offense, taking the shot on the rookie is the way to go.
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