Cat Scratch Reader
We’re counting down the days until the Panthers open up the 2025 season!
In this series, we’ll be counting down until opening kickoff by running through the Panthers roster by jersey number. Today’s piece looks at the current and historical players to have ever donned No. 38 for the Carolina Panthers.
The Panthers actually have two player who wear 39 and no one who currently wears 38, so yesterday focused on Emani Bailey and today will focus on Tre Swilling. Swilling (6’0”, 196 lbs) had several offers from SEC powerhouse schools coming out of high school, but decided to forego those opportunities in favor of attending Georgia Tech. He redshirted his freshman season, then started 11 games at corner as a redshirt freshman. He seemed to really take a leap his sophomore season, earning an Honorable Mention All-ACC designation. Unfortunately for Swilling, the COVID year really slowed his momentum as he only appeared in six games. The two time All-ACC Academic Team member started to round back into form near the end of the 2021 season, including a seven tackle game against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Swilling went undrafted following the 2022 NFL Draft and signed with the Tennessee Titans. The Titans waived him in August, and he joined the Saints practice squad in September. The rest of his career has seen him bounce around the practice squads of the San Francisco 49ers, the Baltimore Ravens, and the New York Jets. The son of College Football Hall of Fame linebacker Pat Swilling has only seen action in three games in his career so far. He signed with the Panthers in July and has an uphill battle to make the roster.
Not many notable players have worn 38 for the Panthers to this point in their history. Hartsfield spent three seasons with the Panthers and started 19 games at safety in that time. Those were dark times. Robert Lester was an older safety prospect out of Alabama who fans had relatively high hopes for considering his age and undrafted status. He spent a couple seasons in the NFL, both with the Panthers, including four starts in 2013. Tyrone Poole is by far the most productive player to wear 38 in black and electric blue. He was a first round pick by the Panthers (22nd overall) before their inaugural 1995 season. He played fairly well, but the Panthers decided to move on after just three seasons. Poole then bounced around the NFL for nine more years after that.
