Who Should I Start? Jordan Matthews or Trent Taylor

Thursday, May 8, 1:02 PM

The Carolina Panthers released tight end Jordan Matthews on Thursday, league sources tell The Charlotte Observer's Mike Kaye. The former wide receiver will now hit the open market after re-signing with the team in early January on a Reserve/Futures deal. The 32-year-old former second-round pick (42nd overall) by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2014 out of Vanderbilt ended up with just one target in four games played (one start) in his two seasons with Carolina the last two years. Since transitioning to a tight end, Matthews hasn't made an impact at the NFL level since leaving the Eagles with the San Francisco 49ers and Panthers. In his 10 NFL seasons, Matthews has recorded 274 catches on 423 targets for 3,288 yards and 22 touchdowns, with pretty much all of that production coming from 2014-18.

Wednesday, June 4, 6:35 PM

The San Francisco 49ers announced on Tuesday that they placed wide receiver Trent Taylor (undisclosed) on Injured Reserve and signed receiver Malik Knowles to an undisclosed one-year deal in a corresponding move. It's unclear exactly what Taylor's injury is, but he's now expected to miss the entire 2025 season. The 31-year-old former fifth-round pick (177th overall) in 2017 out of Louisiana Tech spent the first three years of his career in the Bay Area before going to the Cincinnati Bengals for two years and the Chicago Bears in 2023. In just two games in his return to the Niners last season, Taylor caught his only target for an 11-yard pickup. Taylor has been a depth piece in his career and has a total of 88 receptions for 845 yards and only three touchdowns on 138 targets over 80 games played (three starts) since debuting in 2017.