With the release of all-time franchise rushing yardage leader Jonathan Stewart on Wednesday, the Panthers find themselves looking for a new major rotation running back to pair with Christian McCaffrey heading into the 2018 season; while much of the attention in this area will rightly fall on the draft, Cameron Artis-Payne, the man already on the roster, deserves at the very least a chance to take the role.
“It’s going to create some opportunities for some guys. Obviously, it will mean some things will be a little bit different as far as what Christian’s role will be, what Fozzy’s role will be, and what Cameron Artis-Payne’s role will be as we go into this.” said Ron Rivera at the NFL Combine Thursday, elaborating that in today’s NFL, a team needs multiple running backs with complimentary skillsets.
“Going back to the 2013 season, you saw both Jonathan and Deangelo [Williams] setting the tone and tempo for us, I think you do need to have that [dual threat in the backfield] in the NFL today, it’s tough to have one guy that just dominates the game for you, you’ve got to have guys with similar characteristics, but also do something special that can separate them as well.”
So what does CAP do that’s special?
The Upside
Artis-Payne was drafted in the fifth round of the 2015 draft to add depth to the Carolina rushing attack, and to take some of the sting out of the loss of DeAngelo Williams; it’s clear the reason for that, as much of what Williams brought to the Panthers is well replicated in Artis-Payne’s game. While he isn’t a straight-line burner, Artis-Payne has the speed to stretch the edges of the defense, such as on the following plays:
This then allows him to create space inside by threatening space outside; on stretch and toss plays, Artis-Payne is able to press the edge of the defense, but then has the vision and explosiveness to exploit any breakdowns in gap discipline across the defensive front. On both of the following plays, Artis-Payne notices the defense overcommitting to stop the outside run and cuts back inside to find open running room:
These plays are indicative of a wider strength of Artis-Payne’s running ability: his vision. Much of this starts with his ability to spot changes in the shape of the defense and understand how to vary speed and angle in order to set up his blockers. On both of the following plays, he shows an understanding of how the gap is meant to be created, and hesitates in order to allow it to develop:
In combination, these skills allow him to take simple outside zone reads and turn them into relatively consistent gains without having to dominate opponents with either his speed or his power, but rather with his savvy and intelligence, such as here:
Of course, running room isn’t always easy to come by, and an important skill for NFL running backs is the ability to work through traffic. What Artis-Payne demonstrated an ability to do on tape was to make the first man miss in the hole when a block was blown, which allowed him to turn potential negative plays into gains, such as here:
While Artis-Payne might not jump off the tape at you, his ability to consistently churn out yardage as an inside and outside runner was very impressive though his first three season, but there is one aspect of his ball carrying ability which is somewhat lacking.
The Downside
Although seen as a reasonably powerful runner when at Auburn, Artis-Payne has never been able to transition to a powerful NFL ball carrier and any comparisons to Stewart in this regard will certainly find CAP lacking. While he does break a reasonable amount of tackles, this is more due to the elusiveness described above than his power as a ball carrier; as a result, should the Panthers feel they need to replicate Stewart’s ability as a red zone runner, they will likely need to look at options not currently on the Panthers’ roster, or else face results such as the following:
What is also shockingly lacking from his tape is experience as a blocker, especially in pass protection. While he was occasionally asked to chip defensive linemen on play-action passes, none of his NFL tape showed much ability or usage in pass protection sets. Plays such as those below offer little hope when it comes to the Panthers using him in this way:
The other concern on tape was a couple of fumbles this past season, while one looks to be somewhat on Cam’s pitch and the cause of the other is unclear, Artis-Payne will need to demonstrate consistent ball security if he is to garner more carries in the 2018 Panthers’ offense, as plays such as the following can completely kill drives even if they don’t directly lead to turnovers:
The other area where Artis-Payne will need to improve is as a receiver. Despite seeing about 100 carries so far in his career, he has caught just seven passes, with just one for two yards in 2017. Almost all of his receiving tape from last season involves simple swings and flares such as the following plays:
While these plays aren’t bad, and can be very effective if teams look to blitz, he certainly doesn’t offer the receiving threat of McCaffrey or even Whittaker. Though it should probably be noted, he would be a significant improvement over Stewart in this area.
Overall, there is a lot to like about Artis-Payne as a runner, and the coaches’ frequent talk of him deserving more carries certainly doesn’t seem to be deceptive. However, his inability to stand out in other areas of the game combined with his lack of power as a ball carrier makes it hard to imagine that the Panthers would look to him to take over the main running back role with Stewart gone. What is certainly true is that with Stewart gone and likely a rookie running back coming in, there should be more snaps available for Artis-Payne to make plays such as the following:
