C.J. Henderson Injury History & Analysis

Following Wednesday morning reports that the Patriots were releasing CB Stephon Gilmore, the Panthers swooped in to get him for a 2023 third-round pick. The veteran corner must remain on the PUP list through 6 weeks for a quad injury. Beyond that, though, trading for his big contract (about $5.8 million left this year) says that Carolina plans to start Gilmore. That begs the question of whether C.J. Henderson -- acquired from Jacksonville in another recent trade -- will have room to enter the lineup. The Panthers lost CB Jaycee Horn to a foot injury, but Donte Jackson has been holding down the other side. None is likely to be much of an IDP factor, though, so that question doesn't matter too much for fantasy football purposes. Overall, we'd have to say Carolina has enhanced a unit that has started 2021 well.

The Panthers are set to trade TE Dan Arnold and a 3rd-round pick to the Jaguars in exchange for CB C.J. Henderson, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. Henderson was the 9th overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft but has obviously fallen out of favor in Jacksonville. It's a good pickup for the Panthers, who just lost rookie CB Jaycee Horn to a broken foot. Meanwhile, Arnold will have a good shot to emerge as the lead TE for a Jaguars team in desperate need of help at the position. Arnold will be worth monitoring -- but we'd only be adding him in deep fantasy leagues at this point. Carolina is left with Ian Thomas and rookie Tommy Tremble at TE.