The Panthers are pivoting towards the future in their final weeks – it’s evident up and down the snap counts of their 38-6 blowout loss in Indianapolis; in a rotation heretofore not seen in Carolina, the Panthers split their tight end reps between veteran Greg Olsen (40) and second-year player Ian Thomas (32).
Not to mention the biggest change with rookie QB Will Grier getting 100% of the snaps in his first start.
With DJ Moore (6) suffering a concussion early and the team being blown out late, the Panthers gave more reps to wideouts Brandon Zylstra (17) and DeAndrew White (14) – they also made some offensive line substitutions late in the game with the first reps being seen for Chris Reed (4). Christian McCaffrey (63) continues his march towards the statistical phenomenon known as 1,000/1,000 as he played 90% of the snaps.
The Panthers and interim head coach Perry Fewell made some changes on the defensive side of the ball, benching Donte Jackson (0), who only played four special teams snaps, in favor of 28-year old Ross Cockrell, who played 100% of the snaps. Joining Cockrell was Jermaine Carter, Jr, who took 100% of the reps with Shaq Thompson out with an ailing ankle – Javien Elliott (54) played at the nickelback position.
Along the defensive line, Efe Obada (32) and Stacy McGee (32) played their highest number of snaps of the season, while Brian Burns (24) played 38% of the snaps – including a fair amount of early work – after only seven last week against the Seahawks. Vernon Butler was ejected after playing 19 snaps.
Check out the full snap counts below:
| Player | Position | Offensive Snaps | Percentage | Defensive Snaps | Percentage | Special Teams | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D Daley | G | 70 | 100% | 2 | 8% | ||
| T Moton | T | 70 | 100% | 2 | 8% | ||
| D Williams | T | 70 | 100% | 2 | 8% | ||
| W Grier | QB | 70 | 100% | ||||
| M Paradis | C | 65 | 93% | 2 | 8% | ||
| T Turner | G | 65 | 93% | ||||
| C McCaffrey | RB | 63 | 90% | ||||
| C Samuel | WR | 53 | 76% | ||||
| C Hogan | WR | 52 | 74% | 3 | 12% | ||
| G Olsen | TE | 40 | 57% | ||||
| J Wright | WR | 40 | 57% | ||||
| I Thomas | TE | 32 | 46% | ||||
| C Manhertz | TE | 21 | 30% | 9 | 35% | ||
| B Zylstra | WR | 17 | 24% | 12 | 46% | ||
| D White | WR | 14 | 20% | 18 | 69% | ||
| R Bonnafon | RB | 8 | 11% | 13 | 50% | ||
| D Moore | WR | 6 | 9% | ||||
| C Reed | G | 5 | 7% | 2 | 8% | ||
| T Larsen | C | 5 | 7% | 2 | 8% | ||
| A Armah | FB | 4 | 6% | 18 | 69% | ||
| J Carter | LB | 64 | 100% | 11 | 42% | ||
| J Bradberry | CB | 64 | 100% | 6 | 23% | ||
| R Cockrell | CB | 64 | 100% | 6 | 23% | ||
| L Kuechly | LB | 64 | 100% | 6 | 23% | ||
| T Boston | FS | 64 | 100% | ||||
| E Reid | SS | 62 | 97% | 6 | 23% | ||
| J Elliott | CB | 54 | 84% | 10 | 38% | ||
| B Irvin | LB | 38 | 59% | 6 | 23% | ||
| G McCoy | DT | 35 | 55% | 6 | 23% | ||
| M Addison | LB | 35 | 55% | ||||
| E Obada | DE | 32 | 50% | 8 | 31% | ||
| S McGee | DE | 32 | 50% | 3 | 12% | ||
| K Love | NT | 31 | 48% | 6 | 23% | ||
| B Burns | LB | 24 | 38% | 11 | 42% | ||
| W Horton | DE | 20 | 31% | ||||
| V Butler | DE | 19 | 30% | 3 | 12% | ||
| C Luke | FS | 2 | 3% | 14 | 54% | ||
| C Jones | FS | 24 | 92% | ||||
| J Kunaszyk | LB | 18 | 69% | ||||
| A Smith | LB | 18 | 69% | ||||
| M Davis | RB | 15 | 58% | ||||
| M Palardy | P | 7 | 27% | ||||
| J Jansen | LS | 7 | 27% | ||||
| J Slye | K | 5 | 19% | ||||
| D Jackson | CB | 4 | 15% |
