In the Carolina Panthers 20-17 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, coaches got a look at what the offense might look like without Kelvin Benjamin as he was traded to the Buffalo Bills at the deadline earlier this week. If the intention was to get more speed on the field, they certainly did, with rookies Christian McCaffrey (82%) and Curtis Samuel (75%) taking their highest volume of snaps this year. Samuel received the highest snap count of the receiver group, eclipsing Russell Shepard, who many thought would take some of the snaps that belonged the Benjamin; in fact, it was Funchess and Samuel who took the “2 WR set” snaps and Shepard continued running as the third option. Speed option Kaelin Clay was on the field for limited snaps and received an endzone target; new signee Brenton Bersin saw nine snaps, many of them in 1WR sets as a blocker on the outside.
In addition to Samuel and McCaffrey garnering high playtime, fellow rookies Taylor Moton and Alex Armah saw their time increase, mostly due to the first-quarter concussion of tight end Chris Manhertz, which left the team with only one healthy tight end and scrambling to find blocking options. After receiving his first touches of the season last week and almost scoring a touchdown, even with Jonathan Stewart struggling with two early fumbles, Cameron Artis-Payne only had one snap and zero carries; Artis-Payne has found a home on special teams, though, so he may stay active even with Fozzy Whittaker poised to return. Stewart had his lowest output of the season after the early fumbles, only on the field for 32.3% of the snaps.
Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, and Kurt Coleman each played every defensive snap for the second straight week, but the cornerback rotation that Ron Rivera has employed between Daryl Worley and Kevon Seymour tilted towards Seymour, as the 2016 sixth-round pick was on the field for 73% of the game and Worley only seeing 32% after it was the opposite last week (Worley – 79%, Seymour – 21%). Perhaps an early touchdown by Mohammed Sanu when he was matched up with Worley caused the change; perhaps the coaching staff just liked what they saw in the matchup from Seymour. Jairus Byrd received eight snaps after Mike Adams went down with a shoulder injury towards the end of the game.
This table is sortable, so play around with the numbers and form your own conclusions!
| Player | Position | Offensive Snaps | Percentage | Defensive Snaps | Defensive Percentage | Special Teams | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M Kalil | T | 65 | 100% | 4 | 16% | ||
| A Norwell | G | 65 | 100% | 4 | 16% | ||
| T Turner | G | 65 | 100% | 4 | 16% | ||
| D Williams | T | 65 | 100% | 4 | 16% | ||
| T Larsen | C | 65 | 100% | ||||
| C Newton | QB | 65 | 100% | ||||
| E Dickson | TE | 64 | 98% | 5 | 20% | ||
| C McCaffrey | RB | 53 | 82% | 1 | 4% | ||
| C Samuel | WR | 49 | 75% | 10 | 40% | ||
| D Funchess | WR | 48 | 74% | 1 | 4% | ||
| R Shepard | WR | 38 | 58% | 11 | 44% | ||
| J Stewart | RB | 21 | 32% | ||||
| A Armah | RB | 17 | 26% | 17 | 68% | ||
| T Moton | T | 12 | 18% | 4 | 16% | ||
| B Bersin | WR | 9 | 14% | 2 | 8% | ||
| K Clay | WR | 8 | 12% | 12 | 48% | ||
| C Manhertz | TE | 5 | 8% | 2 | 8% | ||
| C Artis-Payne | RB | 1 | 2% | 17 | 68% | ||
| K Coleman | FS | 60 | 100% | 4 | 16% | ||
| T Davis | LB | 60 | 100% | 4 | 16% | ||
| L Kuechly | LB | 60 | 100% | 3 | 12% | ||
| J Bradberry | CB | 56 | 93% | 7 | 28% | ||
| M Adams | SS | 51 | 85% | 2 | 8% | ||
| M Addison | DE | 45 | 75% | ||||
| K Seymour | CB | 44 | 73% | 9 | 36% | ||
| K Short | DT | 41 | 68% | 3 | 12% | ||
| S Thompson | LB | 39 | 65% | 10 | 40% | ||
| S Lotulelei | DT | 35 | 58% | 3 | 12% | ||
| C Johnson | DE | 31 | 52% | ||||
| J Peppers | DE | 25 | 42% | 3 | 12% | ||
| W Horton | DE | 22 | 37% | ||||
| V Butler | DT | 21 | 35% | 3 | 12% | ||
| K Love | DT | 21 | 35% | ||||
| C Munnerlyn | CB | 21 | 35% | ||||
| D Worley | CB | 19 | 32% | 11 | 44% | ||
| J Byrd | FS | 9 | 15% | 6 | 24% | ||
| D Mayo | LB | 18 | 72% | ||||
| C Jones | FS | 18 | 72% | ||||
| B Jacobs | LB | 18 | 72% | ||||
| J Norris | LB | 17 | 68% | ||||
| G Gano | K | 9 | 36% | ||||
| J Jansen | LS | 9 | 36% | ||||
| M Palardy | P | 9 | 36% | ||||
| G Van Roten | G | 7 | 28% |
