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New Carolina Panthers linebacker JJ Weaver, who signed with the team last week, was born with an extremely rare condition that left him with six fingers on one hand.
Last week, the Carolina Panthers announced they signed Weaver and waived fellow linebacker Amare Barno. The 25-year-old played for the Kentucky Wildcats from 2019 to 2024, finally landing his first NFL opportunity three months after the 2025 Draft.
After Carolina signed him, several folks on X/Twitter noted that Weaver has six fingers on his right hand. He was born with polydactyly, a rare condition in which someone is born with extra fingers or toes.
🚨NEWS: The Carolina #Panthers have signed rookie linebacker J.J. Weaver, who has SIX FINGERS on his right hand.
Weaver is a former Kentucky star and was born with polydactyly, a condition where a person has extra fingers or toes.
JJ has had a remarkable journey to the #NFL. pic.twitter.com/LVdbIYLe0X
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) July 30, 2025
The Panthers signed Kentucky UDFA linebacker JJ Weaver, who was born with six fingers on his right hand.
Fans already gave him the nickname “Pick-six” 🔥 pic.twitter.com/FSSxV19DXl
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) July 29, 2025
Over his six seasons at Kentucky, Weaver appeared in 58 games and tallied 197 tackles, 21.5 sacks, two interceptions, eight pass breakups and five forced fumbles. He helped the Wildcats to three bowl game victories over his six seasons, the Belk Bowl (2019), Gator Bowl (2020) and Citrus Bowl (2021).
The Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons share the second-longest NFL playoff drought at seven seasons, with the New York Jets holding the longest one at 14 seasons (and counting).
Weaver will compete for one of the backup linebacker jobs on Carolina’s defense. Right now, Nic Scourton, Christian Rozeboom, Trevin Wallace and D.J. Wonnum project to be the starting four linebackers.
Bryce Young and the Panthers will kick off the 2025 season with a road contest against Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 7 (1:00 p.m. EST). It will be an enticing battle of two former first-overall picks (Lawrence in 2021, Young in 2023), with highly-touted receivers Travis Hunter and Tetairoa McMillan also making their NFL debuts.
Carolina has lost five of its last six season openers, with the one victory coming against the New York Jets in 2021. We’ll see if they can reverse the trend against the Jaguars in the opener.
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