AP

Plenty of people were surprised by Panthers coach Ron Rivera’s declaration of interest in free-agent receiver DeSean Jackson. Some of those folks work for the Panthers, and they expressed their surprise via text message to PFT’s Darin Gantt.

One source with direct knowledge of the team’s thinking made the team’s level of interest clear via phone call to PFT: The Panthers have no interest in DeSean Jackson.

So why did Rivera tell USA Today that the Panthers would be interested? The thinking is that Rivera, who like Jackson played college football at Cal, was either trying to help a fellow Golden Bear or, at a minimum, to not hurt him.

Either way, the Panthers have no interest in DeSean Jackson. Whether they should is something that can be debated at length by Panthers fans.