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. 88 for the Carolina Panthers.
Chisena (6’3”, 202 lbs) was originally signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent following the 2020 NFL Draft. As a rookie, he made the active roster and even logged 14 tackles while exclusively playing on special teams. Since then, Chisena has bounced around practice squads, joining the Pittsburgh Steelers, returning to the Vikings, joining the Arizona Cardinals, signing with the Baltimore Ravens, and returning to the Cardinals before signing on with the Panthers practice squad in October of 2024.
After joining Carolina, Chisena nearly doubled his career offensive snaps with a whopping 19 snaps in six games (he also had 81 special teams snaps). His limited offensive time did not diminish his importance to the team, as he led the entire NFL with 67% of his receptions resulting in a first down*. Chisena’s best play came against one of his former teams, as the Panthers faced a third and five from their own 19 yard line against the Cardinals late in the fourth quarter. Bryce Young found Chisena for a 23 yard gain, which helped the Panthers run more clock in a game they eventually won in overtime. With the additions to the wide receiver room the last couple of seasons, don’t expect to see a ton of Chisena outside of special teams snaps (barring injury). Still, we’ll always have that one random third down catch where we all went “who?”
*He only had three catches, so he did not actually qualify for the league lead.
The most recent Panther to don the 88 was the first of Carolina’s recent wasted second round wide receivers. He was released following the 2023 season and signed with the Las Vegas Raiders where he did less than Dan Chisena for the offense. He is now with the Philadelphia Eagles. By far the best player to wear 88 and the reason it will likely be taken out of rotation by the Panthers was Greg Olsen. The Panthers acquired Olsen from the Chicago Bears for a third round pick in 2011. From there, Olsen became a pillar for the offense and ultra reliable target for Cam Newton. While in Carolina, he became the first tight end in NFL history to have three consecutive thousand yard receiving seasons. After a year with the Seattle Seahawks, Olsen signed a one day contract to retire as a Panther in 2021. Before Olsen really took off at tight end, Dante Rosario was the big tight end sporting the 88 that had fans excited. While he had a decent career with the Panthers,...
