With Greg Olsen returning from a fractured foot only five weeks after suffering the injury, the Panthers returned to a bit of normalcy with the three-time Pro Bowler stepping back into his normal role – while many thought he would be eased in slowly, Olsen only missed a single snap in his first game back. With Olsen returning, fourth-round rookie Ian Thomas, who had taken over the receiving tight end role in Olsen’s absence with 73.9% of the snaps over the first four games, only saw a single snap; Chris Manhertz, who entered training camp with the #2 tight end role, saw 10 snaps and received two targets – his first two of the season.

After returning last week and taking only 12 snaps – but scoring a touchdown on one of them – Curtis Samuel only saw three snaps as he was the odd man out in the wide receiver rotation; the most common three wide receiver set featured Devin Funchess (97%), Torrey Smith (70%) and Jarius Wright (62%). DJ Moore, who had two fumbles, also saw some looks in the three-wide sets as he played 45% of the snaps – that’s right in line with the workload he’s seen the past two weeks.

With Christian McCaffrey on the field for 100% of the snaps, Alex Armah (2) and CJ Anderson (1) did not get see the field very often – McCaffrey only rushed the ball eight times after getting over 15 rushes per game the first four weeks.

When Donte Jackson suffered a shoulder injury on the second half kickoff, cornerback Josh Hawkins was the first corner off the bench for six snaps before the rookie starter returned. After playing 86% of the snaps last week, safety Eric Reid only saw 80% of the snaps – rookie Rashaan Gaulden was in for 15 snaps as Reid works his way back into football shape and gets more familiar with Eric Washington’s defense. More interesting was the defensive tackle rotation, as Kyle Love (49%) outsnapped Dontari Poe (47%) and Vernon Butler was only on the field for 33% of the snaps.

Thomas Davis said after the game that conditioning was not an issue – Davis played 89% of the snaps. With the Panthers all-time franchise leading tackler back in the fold, Shaq Thompson – after playing 100% of the snaps in the first four games – played 52.9%; he also played 20 snaps on special teams, likely because of both his reduced role on defense and the loss of special teams contributor Jared Norris to injured reserve.

Check out the rest of the snap counts below:

NamePositionOffensive SnapsPercentageDefensive SnapsPercentageSpecial Teams SnapsPercentage
C ClarkT60100%28%
T MotonT60100%28%
T TurnerG60100%28%
G Van RotenG60100%28%
C McCaffreyRB60100%
R KalilC60100%
C NewtonQB60100%
G OlsenTE5998%
D FunchessWR5897%
T SmithWR4270%
J WrightWR3762%
D MooreWR2745%1250%
C ManhertzTE1017%833%
C SamuelWR35%1667%
A ArmahRB23%1250%
I ThomasTE12%938%
C AndersonRB12%
J BradberryCB70100%938%
M AdamsFS70100%625%
L KuechlyLB70100%625%
T DavisLB6289%625%
D JacksonCB6187%1042%
E ReidSS5680%28%
M AddisonDE5071%28%
K ShortDT4564%625%
C MunnerlynCB4564%
J PeppersDE3956%521%
S ThompsonLB3753%2083%
K LoveNT3449%
D PoeNT3347%
W HortonDE2840%521%
V ButlerDT2637%625%
E ObadaDE2333%312%
R GauldenFS1521%833%
J HawkinsCB69%1562%
C JonesSS2292%
B JacobsLB1667%
D MayoLB1667%
J CarterLB1667%
G GanoK625%
J JansenLS521%
M PalardyP521%
T LarsenG28%
A SilatoluG28%
Josh Klein on Twitter
Josh Klein
Editor-In-Chief at The Riot Report
Josh Klein is Editor-In-Chief of The Riot Report. His favorite Panther of all time is Chad Cota and he once AIM chatted with Kevin Greene. Follow Josh on Twitter @joshkleinrules.