Panthers sign a college basketball player to play tight end as they try and find their own Antonio Gates or Tony Gonzalez
The Carolina Panthers made an intriguing signing on Monday. They are attempting to do something multiple teams have had success with in the past.
They elected to sign a college basketball player and have him attempt to play tight end in the NFL.
The #Panthers are signing Coastal Carolina power forward Colin Granger — a 6’9”, 225-pound basketball player — to a contract to play tight end. He’s making the jump from the hardwood to the gridiron. pic.twitter.com/rapZHsvZSJ
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) April 7, 2025
The Panthers have signed Colin Granger, who just finished his fifth and final college basketball season. And they weren't the only team interested, with Tony Pauline reporting that seven teams, including the Panthers, showed up for his pro day workout. He began his career at Ohio University before transferring to Western Carolina after two seasons. He also spent two years there before transferring to his final school, Coastal Carolina, last year.
He has fantastic size for the position, being listed at 6-9, which would make him the tallest TE in the league. He is coming off the best year of his college basketball career, where he averaged career highs across the board with 7.2 points per game and 4.4 rebounds per game and averaged the most playing time of his career with 17.8 minutes per game.
There have been some incredible success stories in the NFL of players who played college basketball and went on to play TE. Two of them are Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez. Gates spent most of his college career at Kent State and was much more successful on the court than Granger, averaging 18.1 points per game in two years with the team. On the other hand, Gonzalez is more comparable in terms of success on the court. He played three years at California, and his career high was 7.1 points per game and 3.9 rebounds per game.
