CHARLOTTE — When Jalen Coker was able to join the offense this season, finally, some tendencies and connections had already been put in place.

The second-year receiver spent the first six weeks sidelined with a quad injury. He didn't receive any targets in his first action back, during a Week 7 matchup against the Jets. The following week, versus Buffalo, he brought in three receptions for 36 yards. Then, against the Packers, Coker only had one catch, but it was a highly important one, a 9-yard reception on the final drive to help move the Panthers downfield towards a game-winning field goal.

Some of that was on purpose, with coach Dave Canales and offensive coordinator Brad Idzik not wanting to overwhelm Coker immediately upon returning.

"The first couple of weeks, we were trying to make sure that we're taking care of him and not overstraining him with reps," Idzik shared Thursday. "But he looks great. He did a great job on a scramble reaction last week."

But as the breakout star of 2024 finds his footing again this season in a unit that has seen the rise of rookie Tetairoa McMillan, Canales wants to make sure Jalen Coker is heavily involved.

"I'm expecting a big game from Jalen Coker at some point coming up, you know, as he continues to show what he's doing out there. He looked great again," Canales said Monday.

He followed up with that assertion on Wednesday, telling reporters, "I got to do a better job, Brad and I, just getting Jalen going. There wasn't a lot of passes to go around last week. We had, I think, 20 passes on the day or something like that. But Jalen made the plays when we needed him."

So what does that look like?

For starters, it means balancing both Coker as a primary target at times, while also making sure concepts aren't lost in an effort to force a ball.

"He's been playing really physical in the run game. Love to reward guys for doing that," Idzik said of Coker. "He's special in the pass game, so I'm really excited to get him going. It's just really, in order to do that, it's making him the focal point in some of the concepts, making sure you mix and match where you're putting them.

"I know TMac's got a lot of targets. When you have TMac, Jalen, and Xavier Legette and Jimmy Horn Jr. all making plays in the receiver room, and then Tommy Tremble and (Ja'Tavion Sanders) and Mitchell Evans also adding to it in the tight end room, we're just making sure that you don't have to always put one guy at the primary and just cycling through that thing keeps the defense off guard, but also keeps our guys engaged."

No matter how it happens, though, Canales and Idzik know they want to get the ball towards and into Coker's hands. The former UDFA had zero drops last season, en route to 32 receptions for 478 yards and two touchdowns.

"Jalen's just a phenomenal receiver. Usually when the ball goes his way, he catches it," bragged Idzik. "He's just been consistent that way. He finds ways to win. We talk about sometimes in the receiver room in the skill position room, no boring routes. There are some of these underneath routes at times, you know, when you get pressed man-to-man; sometimes you feel like it's a 'for love of the game' route (which he explained as xxxxxx).

"I try to pride ourselves on making sure those guys are running every route to win, and there's a great example of that versus Buffalo. You'll watch, we're calling it a simple stick concept, and (Jalen) ends up shaking free on a little outbreak, a little 5-yard outbreak versus the nickel because he does a great job of playing physical, attacking in nature, and then making a play for us."

The staff will have a chance to open up Coker in the passing game again on Sunday, facing a New Orleans passing defense that has given up an average of 203.9 yards per game.

Return of Turk Wharton complementing Derrick Brown

The Panthers have a reasonable idea of what they're getting from Derrick Brown every week.

And now that Tershawn Wharton is back and healthy again, defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero has new ways to deploy them. They have few physical similarities — Brown is listed at 6-5, 320, to Wharton's 6-1, 280 — but a common intensity.

"One guy that's twitchy and a penetrator, Derrick's very twitchy as well, but he's got that size and mass to really absorb blocks and play physical and downhill, and so they're a really good complement," Evero said. "I think where it really stands out is affecting the pass rush as well, where you have the ability to have Derrick power rush and have a Turk really get on the edge and penetrate and so it was good to see him play well the other day, starting to come back to life after those couple of weeks off and did a really good job on the pressure to get the sack and so yeah, it's definitely good to have those two guys in there."

Wharton was extremely active in last week's win over the Packers. He had seven tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, and two quarterback hits in his most extensive action of the season.

Since coming back from a toe injury, his workload has gradually increased, and he played 91 percent of the defensive snaps against the Packers (59 snaps), to Brown's 53 (82 percent).

And since Brown is a known commodity, and throwing guys around at his previous Pro Bowl levels, that's a combination they can work with.

"Since probably our first year with him in 2023, I think the most impressive thing is just seeing a man of that size play that many plays," Evero said of Brown. "I believe he had about 50-something plays the other day, and there's just no plays of where he takes off. And I mean 330 pounds, he's running into the ball every play. Obviously, his physicality and the play strength and tackling and rushing and all that stuff are all really good and great and tremendous in a lot of respects. But the way that he plays with that effort and burst and making tackles on the sideline consistently, and it's not just like one or two plays, it's consistently throughout the entire game.

"It's just so impressive to me that a guy that size could play with that stamina. So, yeah, he's an amazing player."

Special teams forced to adjust game plan after Saints' trade

When the New Orleans Saints traded receiver Rashid Shadeed to the Seattle Seahawks earlier this week, it inevitably changed things for the Panthers in their game prep. All of a sudden, the Saints' second-leading receiver wouldn't be on the field. However, for the Carolina defense, while specific matchup tendencies may change, the overall scheme can remain the same.

The biggest area of impact is on special teams. Shaheed was also the Saints' primary—and this year, only—punt returner. He had returned 10 punts for 129 yards (averaging 12.9 per return), as well as 10 fair catches. No other player has gone back for a punt this season.

It means special teams coordinator Tracy Smith is not only studying Saints' special teams tape this week, but also scanning their entire roster and practice squad, comparing the possible returners there to their history.

"I have to take a look at the other candidates to return out there. They had a few guys with experience," Smith shared Thursday. "They also have somebody on the practice squad who's been a punt returner before.

"There's a little more uncertainty now, so it's a little more 'if, if, if' in the game than if you know who the punt returner is going to be for any week kind of thing."

Who the Saints land on will determine some of what they do scheme-wise in the return game, Smith explained. It means his units have to be ready for a lot of possibilities on Sunday, as they deal with the unknown.

"It leads to some questions about the particular style that they'll play based on who they have out there," Smith continued. "So I have to have a little more openness to future activities."