Greg Olsen -- he arrived from the football heavens as the Norse God Thor delivered us from the King (Jeff). Ten years saw zero productivity from the tight end position. John Fox didn't believe in it as a weapon, and his offensive coordinators followed step. This has made it a particularly difficult position to judge for the purposes of Kitty Litter. You can't knock a player for being a 6th offensive lineman when that's what they were asked to do, so players like King and Kris Mangum dodge the handful of sand.
Instead we have three players, two of whom were drafted by the Panthers -- but all who were utterly ineffective.
Michael Gaines
Career statistics in Carolina: 42 games (21 starts), 31 receptions, 335 yards, 2 TD
A 7th round pick in the 2004 draft, Gaines should have been a depth player who never saw the field. The 280 pound TE was one in name only, and as mentioned above he was more run blocker than true TE.
The problem is, he didn't do any of it very well. The years he started a full slate were two of the Panthers' worst rushing years under John Fox, and Gaines was a non-factor in the passing game. There's no reason he should have started 21 games, but here we are.
Jermaine Wiggins
Career statistics in Carolina: 27 games (12 starts), 16 receptions, 125 yards, 2 TD
Sometimes it takes a couple of years for the light to come on. For Jermaine Wiggins this didn't happen until he turned 29-years old, when he was with the Minnesota Vikings.
While in Carolina his tenure was unceremonious. Stephen Davis gashed up the middle, DeShaun Foster played well on the edges -- but neither were because of Wiggins' role. During the 2003 Super Bowl season he caught 8 passes... in the entire season. Some of this is due to Fox, granted, but overall he was a sorry tight end during the Panthers' best years.
Mike Seidman
Career statistics in Carolina: 43 games (15 starts), 18 receptions, 158 yards, 2 TD
Kitty Litter teams were invented for players like Seidman. Highly touted out of UCLA, the Panthers spent a 3rd round pick on him in 2004.
The dream was to have him bridge the gap, becoming the team's best TE since Wesley Walls. Yeah, that didn't happen. He was injury plagued, but even before the ACL tear he didn't show much on the field. The end result was a Panthers' career where he averaged just a shade over 1 reception per start.