Fantasy Football Daily - 2021 Franchise Focus: Carolina Panthers

Episode Date: July 9, 2021

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan), Tom Brolley (@TomBrolley), and Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield) preview the Carolina Panthers 2021 season in the companion podcast to the 2021 Franchise Focus piece on FantasyPoints.com. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Nothing else is Rees. It's time for the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room, with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. We are wrapping up the first week of the 2021 franchise focus series here at FantasyPoint.com and the Fantasy Points podcast. As they have joined me all week, it will be Tom Broley and Graham Barfield. down the Carolina Panthers as we continue to go in kind of modified alphabetical order here, folks, because while there are some teams who have quarterback situations up in the air in that we don't know

if their star quarterback is going to be there or not. So we're going to try to push Green Bay, Houston, and also kind of Denver towards the back end of these podcasts, as those might be the three teams most affected by the Aaron Rogers and clearly the Deshawn Watson situation. So we're going to keep working in alphabetical order here for the teams where we think we have a decent grasp on what the quarterback situation is going to be. And we're continuing today with Carolina Panthers who have a new quarterback guys. Happy Friday. How are y'all doing? It's been a long week. I mean, I'm seeing Ariel 11 font in my dreams right now going through these player profiles and these franchise focus series.

But, I mean, I'm the thing I like about these series, though, is like as we're talking through this shit, I mean, I'm learning stuff. Like I'm learning stuff that Tom's teaching me. Tom, and I'm sure is learning stuff, Graham, that you're teaching him. And we kind of bring it all full circle. And it's kind of an exercise where we're learning about the team and we hope we can pass it on to other people. Yeah, these have been a lot of fun to do with you. Like, you know, just reading them.

You know, like I say this, obviously this is our podcast. Like we're all voice here. But like, these are by far the best like previews you're going to get. I mean, it's not even close. Like, you got every single angle covered. And yeah, I mean, it's not even tooting our own horn. It's just, you know, just the truth. I mean, we're just, they're just really, they're really that comprehensive, I think.

Yeah, you've been learning, Tom. We've been hammering away on these, Joe, for a while. I can't believe we're only one week through this. I'm already, you know, working through the second week of the write-ups here. So it feels like we've been kind of hammering away at these for a while. But, you know, still plenty of good content coming this way. you know, been doing the betting previews as well. So if you're on the fence, time to get in here and start checking these out.

This is, you know, training camp's going to be coming around here in less than three weeks. So it's almost time, baby. I'm ready for the season. This time of year, July 4th, it's just kind of like, meh, nothing's really going on. So kind of getting ready for that time of year now. Well, we're going to be dead by the time we get to the Raiders, guys. We will be sick of these once we get down to the L. I mean being sick of them.

So you might hear a couple different combinations on the podcast. But me, Scott, me, Graham and Tom for right now, Scott, I'm sure we'll be on later. But me, Tom, and Graham right now have just been kind of, we've been comfortable doing them. So we're going to do these until we're worn out on these podcasts because we're also writing them. But the podcast are intended to be kind of a little window into the whole franchise focus. I'm telling you guys, these are like four or five thousand words each on the website. If you want to learn everything there is to learn about a team from a fantasy perspective, you want to go sign up for FantasyPoint.com and get in the door.

We're going to have all of our tools are updated for the 2021 season. Literally as we speak, we are testing the updated version of the Fantasy Points generator behind the scenes. That's going to help you just absolutely crucify your league mates. Trust me, it's going to be great this year. Without further ado, guys, the Carolina Panthers. This was obviously a multi-year rebuilding project when David Teper, the owner, hired Matt Ruhle last year. They bring in a new GM this year and Scott Fitterer.

Remember last year, Matt Ruhl, a coach who was a defensive-minded coach, saw a broken defense. You know, Luke Keeckley had retired. They spent all of their draft picks in 2020 on defense. They passed on a quarterback in 2021 to draft J.C. Horn, number eight overall, passing on Justin Fields, passing on Mack Jones. So they're going into 2021 ostensibly. I mean, unless PJ Walker somehow wins this job, he did not perform particularly well when given a shot last year. They're trying to see if there is something here, Graham, in Sam Darnold.

And I don't see why Sam Darnold would have given us any reason to be like overly optimistic about this. But if they weren't going to draft a quarterback in the top 10, and you can make the argument that they should have, it's a reasonable thing to see if Sam Darnold was just in a miserable situation with the New York Jets. And if the talent that made him a top three pick is still in there somewhere. That being said, I don't think Carolina made any guarantees to Sam Darnold about being the long term starting quarterback with the Panthers. Yeah, no, they didn't. And, you know, listen, like all three of these ideas can be true, right?

Like Adam Gase is one of the worst head coaches in NFL history. Sam Darnold had a very poor supporting cast in New York for pretty much his entirety of the time. I mean, it was a little bit better last year, but still. And the third thing is, Darnold wasn't very good. I mean, last year, Darnold was on target on just 60% of his passes on intermediate throws between 10 and 19 yards downfield. So that's like the true test in my mind of like, okay, you're accurate, you know, not accurate deep because that's, you know, pretty variable every year. And guys in between like zero and five yards, if you can't hit a guy that's five yards away, I mean, why are you in the NFL?

But, you know, an intermediate throws, Darnold was the second worst quarterback in the league last year. Carson wins was the worst. So, yeah, it's not like Donald was getting any help from his coaches. He's not getting much help from the talent around him for sure. But he wasn't doing too much on his own either. And I'm really interested to see how, you know, Brady and Rule kind of set up this offense. Because last year, and I noted this in the article, the Panthers were really conservative for the most part.

And I think they can kind of just run back that same game plan with Darnold and probably have very similar success. Yeah, it was a low risk type of move for this type of, you know, this franchise. They're still looking at this as a multi-year rebuild. This is still the youngest roster in the league. I think it's average like 24 years old. And Sam Darnold turned just. He just turned 24 years old here just a couple months ago.

So, you know, it hasn't been great up until this point, but they picked up the fit to your option. They're going to see what they can do, get him away from, you know, a tough situation up in New York with all the media and away from Adam Gase and, you know, see what Joe Brady can do with him and see if he can work some magic like he did with Joe Burrow down at LSU a couple years ago.

And, you know, he's a younger guy than Joe Burrow. at this point. So we'll see. I think it's a low risk move. The weapons are better as well. You got DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson. There's things to like for a potential turnaround. But it's the turnovers. It's the accuracy issues, as he said, Graham. So no signs of a turnaround through three seasons, but, you know, we've seen crazier things happen. I wouldn't bet on it. I think, you know, to this point, we've seen them do this kind of thing at USC. as well. But, you know, crazier things have happened. So it's a low risk move for them for a franchise that's still, you know, ascending at this point. They can take a two-year look at this and see what they

got with Sam D'A. Now, just keep in mind, guys, this is a guy who has that big arm. He's got the mobility. He's got the ability, the physical ability to make all the throws. But his fantasy finishes in his three years with the Jets in terms of fantasy points per game, QB 27, QB27, QB30. I mean, just talk about a worthless fantasy quarterback. And, you know, we have them projected higher than that for this year just because of this receiving group. But from a fantasy perspective, that's where we need to focus right now. Because I don't think anybody's drafting Sam Darnold as anything other than a QB3 for fantasy, just in the event that something's quick here.

But he is throwing the ball to a really good group of receivers. DJ Moore, Robbie Anderson, Terrissey. Marshall, the second round pick. They signed David Moore, who was a shrewd signing. Tom, I'm more interested in how this job that Donald has now affects these receivers. Because with the exception of Christian McCaffrey, who's everything proof, these receivers are really appealing for fantasy, but I have to admit, I am a little bit concerned about Donald's presence and how it's going to affect them. Yeah, that's, I haven't been, you know, DJ Moore, he's a guy. I've been taking my shots on in the early fourth round, mid-fourth round.

Robbie Anderson, I've been pretty cool on all off-season here. The main reason is, because, as you said, Joe, not a lot of great finishes from Darnell through three seasons. Hasn't really shown a lot of that ceiling potential. He hasn't been a guy that's been able to lift up his receivers. So, you know, I think there's certainly some room for DJ Moore to grow here. You know, there's, you know, just he's, there's been a cap on the end zone for him through three seasons. He's going to break through it one of these years. And, you know, maybe this is

the year and he gets up into that, you know, top eight of the position. He's certainly capable of it. But I just worry about the ceiling of these receivers with Dornel. I think there's just more downside than upside with these guys. And say what you will about Teddy Bridgewater. He doesn't cut it loose, but he doesn't, you know, he can take the- Distribute. Yeah, he's a distributor. He's not going to get it downfield. There's not going to be a lot of big plays, but, you know, for PPR purposes, for, you know, racking up yardage. He's good for those kind of purposes. Donald, we don't know what he's good for at this point. It's been all negative to this point. So, you know, I'll be taking some shots on DJ more, but Robbie Anderson has kind of been the guy. I've been, you know,

kind of lukewarm on, even though he does have a little bit of the history with San Donald in New York. Much cheaper. He's cheap. He's cheaper. He's cheaper. but I think Moore is just better. And he's got the better role, too. Like, you know, last year Moore was like top 15 and average death of target. Like, more was, you know, kind of turned into their deep threat. And, you know, we know Teddy Bridgewater is super conservative. And Darnold is at least willing to throw into tight windows.

I don't know if it'll ever be accurate, but he's at least willing to kind of try defenses deep. Yeah, I like more quite a bit in the fourth round. And I'm with you, Tom. I really haven't drafted much of Robbie in like the sixth. Yeah. And here's the thing with DJ Moore, though. And I got to admit, as somebody who doesn't think very highly of Teddy Bridgewater, I think Bridgewater's shown more as an NFL quarterback than Sam Darnold has to this point.

And, you know, here's the thing with Moore. I think you can look at the tape and say the tape was just phenomenal for DJ Moore last year. But it didn't translate to fantasy. He was the overall wide receiver 25. He had just four finishes in the top 12 at the position. He had no finishes inside the top five. And he had just eight total finishes inside the top five. 36. And part of that was because he was getting the ball thrown down the field to him,

13.7a dot, which was 14th highest among wide receivers. And that's even with Teddy Bridgewater. My question is, does that get even deeper with Sam Darnold? And is that a good thing? Because again, Bridgewater, say what you want about him. He has shown the better ability to complete passes in the NFL than has Sam Donald to this point, Grandpa. Well, yeah, like Tom said, you know, the biggest bugaboo for more has been scoring. And I think, you know, getting him involved more downfield and with the quarterback who's more willing to throw downfield probably is going to help out in that department. It just comes down to, you know, who do they use near the goal line?

You know, last year, they had a lot of design stuff for Curtis Samuel in the red zone. Robbie Anderson had quite a few end zone targets. They don't really have a tight end. I guess, you know, they'll do some sort of gross time share between their three guys there. But yeah, I think the biggest thing is, you know, using. more and more downfield and getting them involved near the goal line is probably the two biggest things. And one of those things has already been checked off the list. So hopefully we just get some more Red Zone looks for them. Yeah, the big question I have going into training camp is who's going

to be playing on the slot here to most? Yeah. Well, I mean, that is a huge question here. I kind of get the feeling that they're not really going to have a designated kind of slot guy. You know, the guy that's going to be up over 50, 60 percent of the snaps there. I kind of get the sense that they're going to kind of rotate Anderson more, Marshall, and the other more, David Moore there. So, I mean, but I mean, it's something to pay attention to a training camp and even the preseason action because that is one spot where, you know, we saw with James and Crowder.

We've seen Sam Darnold kind of, you know, hone in on that position, that spot of the field. So that is a little bit of something to watch in August. And I think it could be, you know, it could, you know, if Robbie Anderson is kind of playing there, maybe, maybe I will, you know, warm up a little bit more to him. But I kind of think DJ Moore might actually get more of those snaps. But it should be interesting to see what they kind of do, how they rotate that. I'd like him more, guys, if you were to tell me he's going to, majority is the wrong term to say here. Because I don't think DJ Moore all of a sudden is going to come in there and get 50.

percent of what Curtis Samuel got in the slot, but maybe just the plurality. Maybe if he inherits more slot snaps than Anderson or Marshall or David Moore, I'm probably going to like him a little bit more for fantasy, but I have to admit, you know, I'm thinking of DJ Moore's season last year, I thought he was better than he was, and that's because I think the quarterback play held him back in general. Yeah. Just for what it's worth, I just pulled it up. Anderson was in the slot on one third of his snaps last year,

and more is at 23%. So they just run back last year's usage. It'll probably be Anderson, but I think Tom, you've got it. Like when Marshall is healthy and, you know, they get him kind of fully up to speed because, you know, he's coming off a bunch of injuries. I think you're right.

I think they're just going to rotate all three. And why not? I mean, all three can play at the same spot. All right, guys, that'll wrap up the Carolina Panthers here on the 2021 franchise focus series. Again, we're kind of picking out one or two things from each team to really focus on here. No pun intended. while our franchise focus articles up at fantasy points.com and they are behind the standard

paywall, those cover every single angle. Breakdown of every player we have projected this year, breakdown of the scheme, breakdown of the strength of schedule, some key stats, John Hanson's thoughts, that is everything that you could possibly want to know about the Carolina Panthers. Again, this is a team that's probably a year or two away from competing, but certainly have some talent, as Tom mentioned, the youngest roster in the NFL. He's Tom Brons. He's Tom Raleigh at Tom Broly on Twitter. My name's Joe Dolan at FG underscore Dolan on Twitter. And the star of the program, well, it's Graham Barfield.

At Graham Barfield on Twitter. Oh, come on. Graham, sorry. I listed myself before you. So I gave you the, I gave you like, you know how on movies they have like the top billing, but then the guy who's listed last is also kind of a top billing. The with guy. This is Tom Broly, Joe Dolan.

Oh, don't put, don't put me on that. We know you're the star job. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, my mom thinks so at least. But she likes listening to both of you guys. She's like, when's your next podcast with Tom and Graham? Every day now.

We're like, you know, we're pretty regular at this point now. So it's going to be every day, mom. Oh, we are the metamusel of podcasts right now. We're very regular now. That's what's going on here. It's around football season. We get very regular. Yeah, exactly.

The metamusal of podcast. That is gold. Five days a week, baby. Five days? Once a day, every day. That's what you're going to get from these franchise focus podcasts. We're going to join you next week. We're going to kick things off with the Chicago Bears.

I hope everybody has a wonderful weekend. I know I'm going to. Just go to FantasyPoint.com, sign up. You won't regret it. Thanks, everybody, and we'll talk to you next week. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.