Denzel Mims is a natural fit to help the Panthers add much-needed depth at receiver

Denzel Mims predicted Baylor was going to be in the Big 12 Championship game.

At the conference’s media day in July, held in the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, he told everyone that the team that had gone 1-11 two years prior was going to be atop its conference and play for the title. He also predicted they would win the conference crown, and while that may not have happened (the Bears lost to Oklahoma, 30-23), Mims was part of an impressive season at Baylor, going 11-3 and losing in the Sugar Bowl.

Now he’s trying to prove to NFL scouts that they should want him on their team and that he can be a consistent threat in the pros.

“I’m going to come out there and compete every day,” Mims said. “When things are not going my way, I’m still going to go out there and compete, try to do my best.”

Mims has been one of the more impressive players at the Senior Bowl this week. Each day, he has made catches that result in scouts and media saying “woah” and would end up on highlight reels on ESPN if they were in a game.

But his biggest question mark in the draft process is if he can put up numbers consistently -- can he be a reliable target?

During his time at Baylor, he had two seasons with 1,000-plus receiving yards, but his junior year was an outlier. He had 794 yards on just 11 fewer catches than his senior season (finished with 1,020 receiving yards in 2019). He put a career-high 12 receiving touchdowns as a senior.

The 6-foot-2, 206-pound receiver has shown speed and good hands throughout the practices in Mobile. Scouting reports typically point out his strong catch radius and his ability to make plays in the red zone. They also point to him needing to “clean up” some skills.

He would be a natural fit in Carolina. He knows the Panthers’ new coaching staff intimately. He was coached by Matt Rhule. The Panthers’ new wide receivers coach, Frisman Jackson, was his wide receivers coach for the last two seasons. Mims could be a late Day 2 pick or Day 3.

While Carolina has DJ Moore (1,175 yards receiving, 4 touchdowns in 2019) and Curtis Samuel (627 yards, 6 touchdowns), depth at wide receiver needs to be improved this offseason, especially with the type of offense that Joe Brady may want to implement. They’ll likely be in the market for a wide receiver when it comes to the later rounds.

Mims seemingly helped his stock over the past week in Mobile. He found a rhythm with Utah State quarterback Jordan Love that stood out on Day 2. Several times, he has made catches on fade routes to the end zone and, despite crashing to the ground, came down with the ball.

But the skill that he is most proud of from this past year isn’t how soft his hands are.

“I’m most proud of my blocking,” Mims said. “I made a lot of good catches, but I blocked and I opened up a lot of good stuff. I feel like I did a good job with blocking this year and even last year.”

As far as who he is as a teammate, Mims said: “You will never hear anything bad about me off the field.

“I never get in any trouble, if you hear something about me off the field, it will be something good. I love helping others … we do a lot of community service at Baylor. (Teams will) get a great person.”

Mims went through it all at Baylor. He was known for making spectacular catches there, and he was able to witness the program’s rebuilding firsthand.

“It was great to experience,” Mims said of his time at Baylor. “We were at the bottom for one year, and we came like halfway, got a little better, and then we had an unbelievable year this past year and it was a great feeling. When we went 1-11 (and were) very down, because we had a lot of things go wrong and it felt like we couldn’t catch a break and we just kept working after that.”

Being drafted by the coaching staff he spent significant time with in college would be a natural fit.

“That would be lovely, because (Rhule) knows my skills and he knows my weaknesses, he knows my strengths,” Mims said. “I know he can put me in a great situation and (help me) be a great young man and a great player.”