Pieces to the Puzzle: Ja’Tavion Sanders

Now that the Panthers have new pieces for their 2024 puzzle, how do those pieces fit?

With the 2024 NFL Draft behind us, we now have the opportunity to look forward and predict how this draft class will fit into the current regime’s plans. Obviously the coaches and scouts believe these players fit in some form or fashion into at least one of the three phases, but let’s try to look at past trends from this coaching staff and guess what type of usage we can expect from the newest Carolina Panthers.

The Carolina Panthers got Day 3 of the Draft started by taking the big tight end out of Texas, Ja’Tavion Sanders. Sanders was often mocked in the late second to third round, so getting him with the first pick of the fourth round was excellent value. The most recent tight end that Dave Canales worked with was Tampa Bay’s Cade Otton last season. Let’s look at how Otton’s first and only season under Canales compared to his rookie season the year before and how those changes might affect Sanders this season.

Otton and Sanders have similar size, both around 6’4” and 245 pounds, but their athleticism varies pretty widely. Despite not being as fast and nimble as Sanders, Otton still saw quite a few targets in Dave Canales’s offense last season. After Canales arrived in Tampa, the second year tight end only caught five more passes compared to his rookie season, but managed over 60 more yards on those receptions. On top of the increase in yards per reception, Otton improved his touchdown totals (by two) and averaged more yards after the catch. The biggest, and most telling, increase Otton saw after Canales arrived was his average depth of target. Otton’s ADOT improved by over a yard and a half.

This was a new trend for Canales. As passing game coordinator with the Seahawks, he preferred to use multiple tight ends in the passing game. Each of those tight ends also had ADOTs less than five, which is more in line with Otton’s rookie season (before Canales got to Tampa). Those tight ends relied heavily on yards after the catch, which does show that Canales was able to help scheme them open on those shorter routes. Otton’s YAC per reception under Canales was two full yards lower than Will Dissly’s, for example.

This diversity in routes for tight ends shows Canales is willing to change his system based on what his personnel are capable of doing, which is encouraging. It does not, however, make it much easier to predict how he will use the big, athletic tight end now at his disposal.

My prediction would lean toward the Tampa Bay profile more than the Seattle scheme. In Seattle, Canales was working with ancient veterans (Greg Olsen, Gerald Everette) and young guys who were not known as receiving threats (Dissly). Once in Tampa, he had a clearer hierarchy in terms of receiving talent at the tight end position. While the Panthers do have some decent depth in the tight end room, players like Tommy Tremble and Ian Thomas have not shown to be outstanding receiving threats. Sanders has, so I envision Canales using him more like he used Otton.

While Sanders will likely see snaps from the slot, about two thirds of Otton’s snaps came inline, usually on the right side. Sanders has the tools to be a solid blocker, so I would guess he’ll line up tight more often than not as well, like he did while at Texas. I would be comfortable predicting around 30 catches for Sanders his rookie year, with those catches likely going for around 300 yards and a couple touchdowns.

How do you think Sanders will be used this season? What kind of stats do you think he’ll put up? Sound off in the comments!