Panthers football card of the week: Wesley Walls
Tight ends are the talk of Charlotte. We go back in time to the original stalwart of the position for the Panthers.
Welcome to the fourth edition of the Carolina Panthers football card of the week!
Each week I go through the Panthers cards I’ve collected over the course of my life and choose one to review.
I try to pick a card that has some relevancy to the current happenings with the team. For example, I had to go with a Luke Kuechly card when he was getting enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Tight end Darren Waller officially signed with the Panthers on Monday.
There has been a lot of chatter on the tight end position for the Panthers. That chatter has not been a fun topic since Greg Olsen departed after the 2019 season. As Joseph Person of The Athletic noted on Friday:
The Panthers’ 319 receptions by tight ends are the fewest in the NFL since the start of the 2020 season, according to TruMedia’s Jason Starrett. Every other team had more than 400 catches by tight ends over the same span. The New York Jets had the second-fewest receptions with 411.
Arguably, the team hasn’t made a significant investment into the position since they traded for Olsen and signed Jeremy Shockey in 2011.
Before those two, the biggest move the Panthers made at the position was signing Wesley Walls in 1996.
With all the tight end talk, we had to go with Wesley Walls as our Panthers card of the week.
1996 Collectors Choice Update Wesley Walls, #U107
I have other cards of Walls but this is the year he signed with the Panthers. The photo appears to have been taken during training camp or some sort of offseason workout.
Walls was a priority free agent for the Panthers that February.
Walls’ career began with the San Francisco 49ers. He was the 56th overall pick in the 1989 NFL Draft. He only caught 11 passes for 67 yards and one touchdown in five seasons with the 49ers. He did play in every game his rookie season, when the 49ers won Super Bowl XXIV. Walls caught one pass for nine yards in the Super Bowl.
Walls went to NFC West rival New Orleans in 1994. In two seasons with the Saints, he had 95 receptions for 1,010 yards and 8 touchdowns.
The tight end production from the Panthers in their expansion season was scant to say the least. Four tight ends combined to produce 30 catches for 272 yards and three touchdowns.
Most of that production came from 35-year-old Pete Metzelaars. He caught 20 passes for 171 yards and all three touchdowns. Ironically enough, Metzelaars is the answer to the trivia question on the card.
After a strong finish to the 1995 season, the Panthers needed to get better on offense to pair with their ascending defense.
They already took one player away from the Saints the year before in Sam Mills. Why not double dip?
Walls’ visit to Carolina that February coincided with another priority free agent - all pro cornerback Eric Davis - who was Walls’ teammate in San Francisco from 90-92.
Both players signed with the Panthers on Tuesday, February 20th, 1996.
“The Panthers plan to make him a primary target in their passing offense this season” the back of the card reads.
When he signed, Walls told Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer “New Orleans matched the money but what they couldn't match was the chance for me to maximize my opportunity. I can be the man here.”
Walls was indeed the man in Carolina and the primary target of the passing offense.
In 1996, he led the team in targets (111), receptions (61), first downs (44), touchdowns (10) and was second in yardage (713) as the Panthers finished 12-4 and won the NFC West.
He scored the first playoff touchdown in team history on a 1-yard pass at home in the Panthers 26-17 victory over the defending champions Dallas Cowboys.
Walls played seven productive years in Carolina and was inducted into the team’s Hall of Honor in 2019.
Darren Waller likely won’t put up the numbers Walls did when he arrived in Carolina at this point in his career. However, fans hope they get to see another tight end in the mold of Walls line up for the Panthers soon.
PREVIOUS PANTHERS FOOTBALL CARD OF THE WEEK ENTRIES
August 8, 2026: Luke Kuechly
July 27, 2026: Sam Mills
July 19, 2026: Armanti Edwards