The Panthers lost their fifth straight contest, falling 26-20 to the Browns in Cleveland – with Ron Rivera taking over the defensive playcalling, one might have expected to see some changes in the playtime on the defensive side of the ball, but with Thomas Davis (48) getting only slightly fewer than the 100% he’s been on the field for over the past three weeks, it was a fairly expected rotation – Shaq Thompson (25), after playing only 38.5% last week, picked up a few more snaps as he saw almost half of the snaps in the ‘big nickel’ formation. Captain Munnerlyn (31) played 60%.
With Vernon Butler again inactive, the defensive line rotation saw increased playing time for Dontari Poe (34), who was able to force at least one holding call up front and much fewer reps for Julius Peppers (18), who was closer to the workload he was getting at the beginning of the season – this was his lowest percentage of the snaps since Week 2. Wes Horton (23) received some defensive tackle snaps as well, but realistically, it was the uptick in snaps for Poe and Kyle Love (29) that replaced Butler.
On the other side of the ball, the playing time for young wide receivers continued as Curtis Samuel (69) and DJ Moore (67) dominated the snaps with Devin Funchess’ playing time trending in the opposite direction. Funchess (29), who had no catches on three targets, had his lowest snap count percentage (45.7%) since 2016 last week against Tampa Bay – this week was even lower (39.2%). Torrey Smith, who seemed healthy during practice this week after battling a knee injury he suffered in Week 7, only saw two snaps.
Ian Thomas (61) took over the Greg Olsen role with 82% of the snaps, but Alex Armah (5) saw a slight uptick.
Check out the full snap counts below:
| Player | Position | Offensive Snaps | Percentage | Defensive Snaps | Percentage | Special Teams Snaps | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T Moton | T | 74 | 100% | 4 | 14% | ||
| G Van Roten | G | 74 | 100% | 4 | 14% | ||
| C Clark | T | 74 | 100% | 2 | 7% | ||
| T Turner | G | 74 | 100% | 1 | 4% | ||
| C McCaffrey | RB | 74 | 100% | ||||
| R Kalil | C | 74 | 100% | ||||
| C Newton | QB | 73 | 99% | ||||
| C Samuel | WR | 69 | 93% | ||||
| D Moore | WR | 67 | 91% | ||||
| I Thomas | TE | 61 | 82% | 6 | 21% | ||
| J Wright | WR | 38 | 51% | ||||
| D Funchess | WR | 29 | 39% | D Fells | |||
| C Manhertz | TE | 21 | 28% | 4 | 14% | ||
| A Armah | RB | 5 | 7% | 14 | 50% | ||
| M Newhouse | T | 3 | 4% | 4 | 14% | ||
| T Smith | WR | 2 | 3% | ||||
| C Artis-Payne | RB | 1 | 1% | 18 | 64% | ||
| T Heinicke | QB | 1 | 1% | ||||
| J Bradberry | CB | 52 | 100% | 9 | 32% | ||
| D Jackson | CB | 52 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
| L Kuechly | LB | 52 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
| M Adams | FS | 52 | 100% | 5 | 18% | ||
| E Reid | SS | 51 | 98% | ||||
| T Davis | LB | 48 | 92% | 6 | 21% | ||
| K Short | DT | 36 | 69% | 6 | 21% | ||
| M Addison | DE | 36 | 69% | ||||
| D Poe | NT | 34 | 65% | 7 | 25% | ||
| C Munnerlyn | CB | 31 | 60% | ||||
| K Love | NT | 29 | 56% | ||||
| S Thompson | LB | 25 | 48% | 21 | 75% | ||
| W Horton | DE | 23 | 44% | 6 | 21% | ||
| J Peppers | DE | 18 | 35% | 6 | 21% | ||
| B Cox | DE | 17 | 33% | 11 | 39% | ||
| E Obada | DE | 15 | 29% | ||||
| R Gaulden | FS | 1 | 2% | 14 | 50% | ||
| C Jones | SS | 24 | 86% | ||||
| B Jacobs | LB | 18 | 64% | ||||
| K Barner | RB | 18 | 64% | ||||
| C Elder | CB | 18 | 64% | ||||
| D Mayo | LB | 18 | 64% | ||||
| J Carter | LB | 18 | 64% | ||||
| C Catanzaro | K | 9 | 32% | ||||
| M Palardy | P | 8 | 29% | ||||
| J Jansen | LS | 8 | 29% | ||||
| T Hearn | G | 4 | 14% | ||||
| T Larsen | G | 4 | 14% |
