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With Steve Smith out of the way in his hometown, it was easy to connect the dots from free agent wide receiver Hakeem Nicks to the Panthers.

But there might be a long set of dotted lines between Point A and Point B on that map.

Nicks told Josina Anderson of ESPN “I’m flying to Indy tonight. The plan is to meet with the Colts tomorrow.”

Nicks has also drawn interest from the Chargers, along with the Panthers. At one point, there were Instagram messages from his father suggesting a deal was done with the Panthers, but those were quickly retracted, saying nothing was final.

So if Panthers General Manager Dave Gettleman was hoping to head Nicks off at the free agent pass, he better hurry to the airport.