Former Lions TE signs deal with Colombian basketball team

Funchess agreed to a deal to join Caribbean Storm Llaneros, who are part of the Professional Colombia Basketball League. He made his debut with the team earlier this month, according to Panthers.com’s Kassidy Hill.

The former Panthers second-round pick last played in a regular-season game back in 2019, but he was with a team as recently as 2022. The Lions added the Detroit native but released him upon setting their initial 53-man roster that summer. Funchess, 29, went to camp with the Packers in 2021 and spent a short time on the 49ers’ practice squad during that season.

Funchess’ NFL career stalled once he signed a one-year, $10M deal with the Colts in 2019. A Week 1 injury that year looks to have been his final act in an NFL game. While the Colts designated Funchess for return — back when only three players could be activated off IR in-season — they did not end up moving him back onto their active roster. Funchess signed with the Packers in 2020 but opted out of that season due to COVID-19 concerns.

Funchess did not play basketball at Michigan, having last played organized hoops in high school. That certainly creates a steep degree of difficulty for the 6-foot-4 performer. The Professional Colombia Basketball League’s season spans 28 games; Funchess will attempt to impress, eyeing a hopeful deal with an NBA G League team. A meeting with the GM of the Los Angeles Clippers’ G League team, per Hill, spurred Funchess to try and build some momentum in a lower-profile league. Funchess is eyeing open G League tryouts in September.

“I really want to play with the [Greensboro] Swarm just because it’s like so much, it was so much love,” Funchess said of the Charlotte Hornets’ G League team. “When I look at my life and I go back to my life, yeah, Detroit gave me a lot of love, a ton of love. But Charlotte opened so many doors for me. My whole family is from North Carolina anyway. So, it’d just be dope just to get my fam to the games.”

If this is it for Funchess in the NFL, he will be best remembered for his Panthers contributions. The 2015 No. 41 overall pick served as a key Cam Newton target for the Panthers’ 15-1 team that ventured, without an injured Kelvin Benjamin, to Super Bowl 50. Funchess totaled 21 touchdown receptions as a Panther, delivering his best season — an 840-yard, eight-TD slate — in 2017 to help Carolina book its most recent playoff berth.