Curtis Samuel: The Panther Who Needs More Attention

Zachary Wilkens Posted On June 10, 2019

Christian McCaffrey is in the elite tier of running backs. DJ Moore is on the verge of stardom. Cam Newton already owns the record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback and will go down as one of the best fantasy QBs ever. What if I told you there was another Carolina Panther who, while perhaps not a superstar, is absolutely worth your attention and is undervalued by the dynasty community?

Enter Curtis Samuel.

It’s not hard to see why Samuel was drafted 40th overall by the Panthers in 2017. In his final season of college, he led the Ohio State Buckeyes with over 1,600 yards from scrimmage. That yardage included an impressive 750-plus yards rushing and receiving each.

Per Sports Reference, only one other Power-5 player had managed to do that since 2000 – the electric Percy Harvin. While Harvin’s professional career was derailed by a string of injuries, he was a special player and one I see as a very positive comparison for Samuel.

Physically and athletically, the similarities between these two players continue. Both were measured at 5’11” at the Scouting Combine. Samuel is actually slightly heavier, at 196 lbs to Harvin’s 192. Naturally, both had the elite speed required for the rushing/receiving ability they showcased. Harvin clocked in his 40-yard dash at an excellent 4.39 seconds. Samuel? A blazing 4.31, bested only by the record-breaking 4.22 by John Ross among the WRs in the 2017 class.

The Panthers were in desperate need of offensive playmakers behind Greg Olsen, who ultimately spent significant time on the sideline in 2017-18. This need was identified and addressed as they took McCaffrey in the first and Samuel in the second. While McCaffrey immediately stepped in with a phenomenal rookie season, Samuel struggled to adapt to the pro level.

Despite an early injury to leading receiver Olsen and ineffectiveness by Kelvin Benjamin, who was traded midway into the season, Samuel was unable to make his mark before suffering his own ankle injury that put him on IR after ten games. His rookie season ended with a meager 179 yards from scrimmage and zero touchdowns.

At the approach of the 2018 season, things took another unfortunate turn as Samuel was ruled out prior to week one due to a medical issue involving an irregular heartbeat. That is the kind of thing that terrifies a dynasty owner, and his ADP would have plummeted if it wasn’t already rock bottom, hovering between 231 and 229 in the months of July through October 2018.

Thankfully the issue did not appear to be of serious concern and Samuel made his return in the fourth game of the season. His first target was promptly caught for a 25-yard touchdown.

Despite that promising start, the season was slow-going. Over the first six games, Samuel did show a tendency to find the end zone with four touchdowns in total, but he averaged just 28 yards from scrimmage per game. It’s worth noting that he added four carries and two of those went for a touchdown, which suggested he might still have value as a player who can move around in the offense.

In the tenth game of the season, things started to change. Samuel had seven targets and put up a line of 5-55-1 against the Lions. Most impressively, he did that on just 16 snaps. Without a doubt, it caught the attention of head coach Ron Rivera and offensive coordinator Norv Turner. Devin Funchess missed the following game and Samuel stepped into his place.

Although it wasn’t as productive of a day, Samuel caught both of his targets for 17 yards and a score and added a 25-yard rush. Funchess was back for the next game, a matchup against the Buccaneers, but it didn’t matter. Samuel was in the starting lineup to stay and rewarded the Panthers with a career-best 96 yards and led the team with 11 targets. He had officially entered fantasy-relevant territory.

Over the final five games, Samuel surpassed the 70-yard mark in three of them and remains firmly entrenched in the Panthers lineup heading into 2019. The only significant addition to the receiving corps is Chris Hogan. At 30 years old, having never exceeded 680 yards in his career, it is unlikely that Hogan is a threat to Samuel.

What can we expect this year? Over his final five games with Newton in 2018, Samuel was WR31 in points per game. While that doesn’t exactly make you jump out of your seat, this includes time before Samuel was implemented as a starter and Newton’s deteriorating health with shoulder woes plaguing him as the season wore on.

Newton was shut down for the final two games and underwent off-season arthroscopic shoulder surgery. All reports indicate his rehab is going well and he’ll be good to go by the time training camp rolls around. Between Newton’s improved health and Samuel’s growth as a player at the end of the season, I see a lot of room for increased value.

For a player who was WR31 over the aforementioned five-game stretch with Newton, that makes him an excellent off-season target even as his ADP his rocketed from 229 at the start of the 2018 season up to 110 in May of 2019. That 110 is only good for WR53 thanks to the rookie take over.

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about the two even more explosive young players on the Panthers and this does take them into consideration. Over the same period where Samuel was WR31, Moore was WR19 as a rookie and he has a great shot to step into fantasy WR1 territory this season.

McCaffrey? He was the number one running back over the same span with at least 100 yards in all five games and at least six receptions in each as bad-shouldered Newton likely favored his short yardage target.

So even with those two players already thriving and all three in less than ideal circumstances with their franchise QB struggling, Samuel presented himself as a far better value than his ADP currently suggests.

He’s young – he won’t turn 23 until just before the start of the season! He’s one of the fastest players in the game. He had a rushing line of 8-84-2 last year and with his background as an RB/WR hybrid in college, Norv Turner may get more creative with him in 2019.

If Newton can bounce back, it is entirely possible that Moore has a huge season and Samuel is still a top-24 WR himself. I can’t recommend enough going out and grabbing Curtis Samuel this off-season.