Fantasy- 32 Teams in 32 Days: The Carolina Panthers

Fantasy Football Off-Season Overview – Carolina Panthers

Don’t look now. Here come the Carolina Panthers.

Carolina had a bounce-back year last season, finishing 11-5. They could ascend even higher in 2018.

Ron Rivera has shifted from his ‘size matters’ approach, and adopted a ‘speed kills’ philosophy on offense. Norv Turner comes in to take over that side of the ball, and you can bet his priority will be making Cam Newton an accurate quarterback. He’ll do that by utilizing short throws, getting the ball into hands of speedsters Curtis Samuel, DJ Moore and RB Christian McCaffery.

Devin Funchess returns after taking over the top WR role when Kelvin Benjamin was traded during last season. Funchess will try to improve on his 840 yards and 8 touchdowns, in his first year in a featured role.

Greg Olsen also returns as one of the better tight end options in the league.

But just about all of it lies on the shoulders (and legs) of Cam Newton.

Cam is the one quarterback that provides extra value for you if you’re in a four point passing touchdown league, because 6-10 of his scores will come on the ground. And for fantasy purposes, it’s not a huge problem for YOU that he’s not tremendously accurate. What do you care if he wins games or not?

It’s all about the stats, baby! And Cam can put up. He’s capable of having HUGE days, between what he does both through the air and on the ground. I really like Cam this year. I think Turner and Rivera will get the most out of him by requiring less of him. Cam could run an offense in a very Alex Smith-like fashion, and be quite successful, especially with the weapons he has around him now.

Look for Newton to be toward the top of the second tier of fantasy quarterbacks this year.

I Gotta Get Me One of Those!

PPR or not, Christian McCaffery is going to have a monster year. Ron Rivera has made no bones about the fact that McCaffery will be a huge focus on the offense. Both rushing and receiving. You already knew he would have huge value in PPR, but I see him as a potential 1,700-1,800 all-purpose yard running back, with 10ish scores. Get your hands on McCaffery.

Buyer Beware

I have reservations about Devin Funchess. Did he emerge as kind of the guy in the downfield passing game last year, when Benjamin was traded? Yes. Could he have done tons better? Yes.

I just look at Funchess, and I see the frame, and two words pop into my mind:

Unrealized Potential.

The ceiling on Funchess SHOULD be higher, but I just don’t see it from him for whatever reason.

Don’t be seduced by his eight scores last year; I think he gets passed up in Norv Turner’s offense.

Stay Woke

At first, when I saw DJ Moore got drafted by the Panthers, I didn’t think too much of it. Cam Newton doesn’t really push the ball downfield a lot through the air, and he’s often liked bigger receivers. (See Benjamin, Funchess, Greg Olsen)

But the more I think about it, the more I can see Moore being the second rookie wide receiver in recent history to have a big debut in Carolina.

He’s not LACKING in size; he’s still a 6’0″ receiver. And the more I think about Newton hitting speedier receivers in the short game, maybe even adding some RPO to his read-option game, the more I see Moore making an impact.

Watch out for the rookie this year.

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