CHARLOTTE — For Jalen Coker, simply being on the field is a good feeling.

But being back on the field in his own jersey is even better.

The second-year wideout is expected to be activated from injured reserve and play this week, according to head coach Dave Canales, and that's a big step.

Coker started practicing last week after missing the first five weeks with a quadriceps strain, but he did it wearing a No. 3 jersey, since he was on the scout team playing the role of Cowboys receiver George Pickens. So this week, this is better.

"Yeah, it feels really good," Coker said with a grin. "I feel good to be back out there, excited just to be ramping it back up and everything, but I'm excited to be back in 18."

Coker's polite and soft-spoken, so that's about as close as you get to a demonstrative answer.

But after what he's been through already this summer, simple relief at the moment is enough.

The way was cleared for him to take a bigger role in the offense when veteran Adam Thielen (whom he replaced in an effective way last season when Thielen was injured) was traded back to the Vikings. But the day after the trade, he suffered that quad strain while running a route during one-on-ones in practice.

It was frustrating in both the timing and the substance, since he worked this offseason to come to camp in better shape, staying here during the break between OTAs and training camp, and skipping the receivers retreat in Minnesota with Thielen, Bryce Young, and the rest of the receivers so he could concentrate on his conditioning plan here.

So Canales has said he wanted to see Coker carry heavier workloads through the week, knowing the demands on Sunday could increase based on other situations. So Coker has done it, adding reps, and even mixing in fielding punts this week in case they ask him to do that.

"I think it just means going out to practice every day and giving your all," he said. "And that's what I need to continue to do, because practice should be harder than the game, and if I practice out there like I should be, then I'll be in perfect shape."

And he's not the only one excited about that.

Young said getting Coker back on the field would be "huge," based on what he showed last year in Thielen's absence and throughout the rest of the season. After beginning the year on the practice squad, Coker caught 32 passes for 478 yards and two touchdowns, a healthy 14.9 yards per reception average.

"Jalen's been huge ever since he got here," Young said. "Great player, of course, but on the outside of just that great for the locker room. Works super hard."

He also adds an element to the offense because of the way he plays, which he showed during a good preseason.

Undrafted rookies don't have the luxury of playing the position they think they're the best at if they want to get on the field. So Coker came in and learned the outside positions, but also the slot, which Thielen excelled at for so many years, and Hunter Renfrow continues to.

That's usually the province of smaller guys like Renfrow, not 6-foot-3, 213-pounders like Coker.

So being able to put him between Tetairoa McMillan and Xavier Legette gives the Panthers the ability to do a lot of different things in their passing routes.

"It causes a lot of problems (for defenses)," Young said of that much size on the field at one time. "It certainly makes my job easier, just with the stuff that Jalen brings. All of our guys do a great job with that, too, all the people, our entire group. It's different stuff; you're able to have different things, you're able to present different stuff to the defense to account for. So again, having as much depth in the receiver room and especially the different body types and different play styles that we have, I think that's a huge luxury."

Young and Coker worked together extensively through last season, but Young said it was evident in OTAs that the Holy Cross product had the chance to stand out.

"Coming in undrafted, you don't really get that luxury of, hey, I just played this position," Young said. "You don't get to just sit in and be like I'm only going to be the X or Z, so he had to go and just play wherever he could. He was able to get reps at all spots. The competitor he is, he just wants to get on the field, however he could, especially back then. He was an outside guy, but then he had to fill in inside, and it's like, oh wow, he can do that too.

"Because of just how he came in, his circumstances, I think early on we were like, wow, this could be, ... he brings that utility, which is one of the many things he brings to the team."

Renfrow, who's made a living in the slot, pointed out that there are some offenses that like to put bigger players there, the way Bruce Arians did with Larry Fitzgerald in Arizona. But generally, it's guys like, well, him "who can get in and out of space."

Being big enough to muscle your way out of coverage inside to create separation is a benefit, and Coker has also shown he can get downfield deep when playing outside.

"Whereas, like me, I've got to kind of make them miss and figure it out," Renfrow said with a grin. "But the good thing about Jalen is that he can do that, but he also can make them miss. He's quick enough to do that."

So while he might not look the part, Renfrow said it was a good matchup based on this staff and this offense.

"The good thing about this offense is you can move guys around," he said. "And this offense, more here than I've been around, it doesn't seem like there's a true outside and a true slots. Because you can move people, a lot of the routes are inside and outside routes. Guys like XL and TMac can succeed a lot more when you spread it out, but because the NFL is a lot more condensed formations, so you can kind of move guys and play to the strengths."

That opportunity is among the reasons he's excited this week, since lining up alongside McMillan and Legette can create physical matchup problems, since few teams are as well stocked in big corners the way the Panthers are with Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson.

"Yeah, I mean, I think we all are very capable catchers of the football," Coker said of the group. "We're all big, strong guys, so I think it's going to be, you know, just another great opportunity for us to showcase our abilities this Sunday."

And the fact he's back in his own number, after making a name for himself a year ago, is maybe the best part.