The political climate has been at a fervent pitch in the US of A, as leadership has been….well, suspect. As a result, the people spoke with their votes and displaced those in power. What if you ruled the world? What would you do? Promise everyone ice cream? Legalize DFS and weed in every state? Help the poor, educate the masses, and provide universal healthcare? Or would you be a racist [email protected]#!, divide, and look to hook up your boys? When these questions are asked, I must revert to an OG, Kurtis Blow, who gave us one of the greatest and most sampled songs of all time. If I Ruled the World, he’d:
- make peace in every culture, build the homeless a home
- love all the girls
- sing a song that’s strong about right and wrong
- stop war, and use unity to fight crime and hunger and poverty
That’s what true leaders do. Through their individual actions to help others, the entire group benefits. Which is what Curtis Samuel of the Carolina Panthers has been doing for fantasy teams lately. On Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, Samuel caught a season-high 9 receptions on 9 targets for 105 yards with a touchdown. He also chipped in 3 rushes for 13 yards. Can he continue to provide the tunes and make us groove all night long?
Samuel is 24 years old, 5′ 11″, and 195 pounds. He played his college ball at Ohio State and, during his junior year, he rushed 97 times for 771 yards with 8 touchdowns while catching 74 passes for 865 yards and 7 touchdowns. That versatility, combined with the jets (4.31 40-yard dash), enticed the Carolina Panthers to select him with the 40th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
His first three professional seasons were underwhelming:
| YEAR | G | GS | TGT | REC | YDS | TD | CTCH% | RUSH | YDS | TD |
| 2017 | 9 | 4 | 26 | 15 | 115 | 0 | 57.7% | 4 | 64 | 0 |
| 2018 | 13 | 8 | 65 | 39 | 494 | 5 | 60% | 8 | 84 | 2 |
| 2019 | 16 | 15 | 105 | 54 | 627 | 6 | 51.4% | 19 | 130 | 1 |
Yuck, especially the catch rate. But, but, but….the offensive coordinators over that period were Norv Turner, Scott Turner, and Mike Shula. In 2020, Joe Brady, the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach for one of the most prolific college offenses (LSU) in forever ever, is the offensive coordinator for the Panthers. Check out his numbers so far:
| YEAR | G | GS | TGT | REC | YDS | TD | CTCH% | RUSH | YDS | TD |
| 2020 | 8 | 4 | 43 | 39 | 367 | 2 | 90.7% | 22 | 104 | 2 |
Now, keep in mind that Samuel was the number two receiver behind D. J. Moore last season. This year, he’s third behind Robby Anderson and D. J. Moore. As a result, the targets haven’t been as voluminous, but look at the rushing involvement and catch efficiency.
After opening the season with 8 and 2 targets, Samuel has received 4, 4, 5, 6, 5, and 9 targets. So there’s been both floor and access to ceiling.
More importantly, though, since Week 2, Samuel has carved out a consistent red zone role: 4, 1, 1, 1, 1, and a whopping 4 looks on Sunday. And this was with Christian McCaffrey garnering 28 total touches on the day.
Entering Week 9, Samuel was the 37th wide receiver in PPR leagues. After Sunday’s performance, he’s likely in the 20s. What’s even better is that he’s owned in 29% of Yahoo leagues and 42% of ESPN leagues.
Now, the schedule is mixed from a passing defense DVOA perspective: TB (1), DET (16), MIN (18), DEN (10), GB (25), and WAS (2) to finish the fantasy season. With that said, defenses need to focus their attention on CMC, Mr. Anderson, and Moore.
Samuel offers a decent floor, especially due to the rushing and red zone equity, with access to ceiling. If you need a wide receiver, get your groove on.
Hi Son!
14m deep league and 4-5 w #2 waiver:
1. Tough spot with just stafford as my QB. Wire options are mullens, lutton, lock, Alex smith. Who should i roster and roll w next week and beyond?
2. Is Sony worth a roster spot or would you get ballage, r James, Jacobi
3. freeman, dobbins, Perine, m Davis, hooper (pick 2 to start)
4. Hollywood, Amari, Mike Willians (pick 2 to start)
Hooper and Dobbins. Jets are on bye
Amari on bye so MW and Hollywood
I like Lock out of that group
James
yep that was the only difference, bring in a good O coordinator. he was ranked right along near dj moore in their draft years, but anybody that’s EVER owned c.sam in a league up till around week 4 or so this year HATED how often he was either ignored or just wasn’t thrown at in a way that worked well for him with any consistency, he might have a good game every so often but nobody would ever in a 12 team league be happy with starting him every week (even some 14 teamers depending on strength of your team whatever his floor was that week). took till about his 40th NFL game and this new coordinator do to it (certainly not unheard of for WR’s)
Agreed. He was brutal to own for much of his career. I’m curious to see what the ceiling is and if it can be accessed. Or are we seeing it now?
it would appear only more targets now being the issue, not either the throws not being caught or being thrown wrong or not suited for his strengths or not used. shame i didn’t add him weeks ago (even after the 2nd week in a row i thought i had better guys and figured nah his floor ain’t that much better etc)
Understandable. It was hard to trust.
Lock @ Vegas or Rivers @Tenn?
I lean Lock for now. Could change after I dig into things later
Keep us posted please, as Rivers starts TNF
Will do
I prefer Rivers
The fantasy gods are challenging me having lost Dak and watching Golladay and Gaskin sitting out again. Good to get this out of the way before the playoffs!
Please rank the top five out of this WW group please as I am in the middle of the pack for claim priority.
Context: 7-2 record. Three-way (stop it) tie for first but well behind top two teams in points. Two game cushion over 4th place team. So focused on playoffs in four weeks.
WW: Breida, Jeudy, Ingram, McKissic, Tua, Ballage, David Moore, Reagor, Ward, Perriman, Meyers
Tannehill
Cook, Taylor (?)
Julio, Golladay, Boyd
Waller
Bench: Gaskin (IR), Mattison, Crowder, Wilkins, Edwards
Thanks SON
McKissic, Meyers, Reagor, Jeudy, Perriman
His Fulgham for my Crowder??? Weird to swap WR.
I have Julio, Boyd, Golladay and Crowder so a good lineup but Golladay has been MIA for much of the year. So this is more about playoffs and who might be best down the stretch. Thanks!
It’s really close. I’m good either way but probably side with Fulgham.
Appreciate your quick turnarounds answering these questions. Good to be on the left coast!
One other option might be to trade Crowder and Pats for Perine and Rams. This would be a gamble on the Jets coming to their senses after the bye week and stop investing in Frank Gore. I have Julio, Boyd, and Galloday already so Crowder could be moved. My RBs are Cook, Taylor and the injured Gaskin. So not good.
I’m good with that. Perine is supposed to be the guy now but ceiling is still low due to the offense.
Carson for Taylor and Fulgham. My backfill off the wire would be a guy like Reagor or R Higgins. Which side you like?
Carson and Reagor
He passed on it.
So Jeudy and Reagor on the wire. Preference for playoff time? Standard scoring
Reagor for me