By Dianna Russini, Jon Machota, Joe Person, Nick Baumgardner and Amos Morale III
The Carolina Panthers are trading receiver Jonathan Mingo to the Dallas Cowboys, a team source and league source confirmed Tuesday. The Panthers are sending Mingo and a 2025 seventh-round pick to the Cowboys in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round pick, per the league source.
Mingo, a second-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, caught 43 passes for 418 yards as a rookie. This season, he tallied 12 receptions for 121 yards. His role was reduced the last three games, seeing just four targets since Week 6.
The Panthers are selling …
The Panthers have been in sell mode since last week when they dealt wide receiver Diontae Johnson to Baltimore for a pick swap, getting a fifth-round pick in exchange for Johnson and a sixth. But general manager Dan Morgan was able to get even better value for the underperforming Mingo, who had the fifth-worst catch percentage in the league last year and this season and had been passed on the depth chart by a pair of rookies — first-rounder Xavier Legette and undrafted free agent Jalen Coker.
The Panthers envisioned pairing Mingo with quarterback Bryce Young for years when they drafted him in 2023. But the former Mississippi standout arrived as a raw route-runner and was all but written off by Dave Canales and the offensive staff. But Cowboys owner Jerry Jones saw something he liked, and Morgan was able to add to the Panthers’ growing pile of picks for next spring. — Joe Person, Panthers beat writer
And the Cowboys are buying
Jones revealed the trade for a wide receiver during his weekly radio interview Tuesday morning on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, adding that the player is someone Dallas “really thought a lot of and wanted to draft” in 2023.
This is not the type of move that should get anyone excited about a turnaround to a bad season. Jones also mentioned Tuesday morning that franchise QB Dak Prescott (hamstring) is likely headed to the injured reserve, meaning he would miss at least the next four games. If the Cowboys were coming off a win Sunday in Atlanta and had a healthy Prescott, this move would mean a little more. But right now, at 3-5, it seems like selling would be a better option than buying before today’s trade deadline.
Jones said he has no interest in that, making it clear, “We’re buying and not selling.” Why? Because Jones still has hopes of Dallas turning its season around.
“We’re gonna have to do something that’s a storybook-type of scenario,” he said Tuesday morning. “I’ve been a part of a couple of those, and it can happen.” — Jon Machota, Cowboys beat writer
Mingo’s fit on the Cowboys
In terms of athletic ability, Mingo is a classic Jerry Jones prospect. At 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, Mingo was one of the freakiest testers (regardless of position) in the 2023 draft class with a 4.46 40-yard dash, a 39 1/2-inch vertical leap and a 10-foot-9 broad jump.
Physically, Mingo had first-round goods coming out that year, though there were some pretty clear issues that wound up causing his slide in an otherwise ho-hum WR draft. Namely, Mingo broke out in Lane Kiffin’s explosive Ole Miss offense — a scheme that features an incredibly basic route tree. He was a flash player, to be sure, but lacked route nuance and blocking chops.
Mingo has improved in many of those areas during his short run as a pro. Though he’s only had 12 catches this season, the Panthers’ offense has been absolutely broken since Mingo walked in the door. He’s not as versatile as his athletic profile suggests, and he still has room to grow as a big-bodied X receiver who knows how to get open and blocks his tail off on every rep. It’s hard to see him fixing the Cowboys, but maybe a new setting will unlock something. — Nick Baumgardner, NFL Draft analyst
(Photo: Mike Carlson / Getty Images)
