The Carolina Panthers are taking a shot on a former college basketball player with no experience playing football.
The Panthers announced Monday that they have signed former Coastal Carolina center Colin Granger as a tight end. Granger has never played organized football before, though he did play five years of college basketball.
Granger was eligible to sign with an NFL team immediately instead of going through the draft because he is five years removed from high school. He obviously was not drafted last year.
Granger is listed at 6-foot-8 and 245 pounds, so he will certainly be a tall target if he has any involvement in the passing game.
Granger certainly appears to be a long shot to make the team, but the Panthers will give him the chance. He was largely a reserve during his basketball career, which he spent at Ohio, Western Carolina and Coastal Carolina. He averaged 11.3 minutes per game over five seasons, with 3.5 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.
We do know that NFL teams keep an eye on college basketball just in case there is some talent there that could translate. There has been a basketball-to-tight-end pipeline in the past, with Hall of Fame Chargers star Antonio Gates the most prominent example. He also did not play football in college, so the Panthers are dreaming of a repeat of that.
