When Jarius Wright was announced as the starting wide receiver ahead of Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, the reaction on social media was palpable; luckily for Panthers Twitter, the announced “starter” isn’t always accurate in the NFL, and the first play saw Devin Funchess, DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel at wide receiver with Wright on the sidelines. With Torrey Smith missing Week 8 with a knee injury, the wideout snap counts were certainly shuffled – aside from Devin Funchess getting his trademark chunk (74%), DJ Moore saw 71% of the snaps and responded with his career high in receptions, receiving yards and rushing yards; Curtis Samuel also saw 26 snaps – that 40% was a season-high as he continues to work himself back into shape after missing the first month of the season with a heart issue. Wright remained in the slot, as Ron Rivera said Friday that he would, and saw 26% of the snaps – even as the starter.
With the Panthers up 20 at halftime, it wasn’t surprising to see some of the “heavier” personnel get some more work this week as fullback Alex Armah (15%) and tight end Chris Manhertz (34%) saw an increased workload – rookie tight end Ian Thomas was on the field for 8 snaps and picked up a reception after not getting any playing time last week in Philadelphia. CJ Anderson’s 19% was his highest percentage of the season and his five carries were the most since Week 1; after playing every single offensive snap the past two weeks, Christian McCaffrey (98%) took one snap off this week – he probably deserved it after two scores on the day.
Taylor Heinicke took three snaps, although his first half rep was a little bit more exciting than the two kneeldowns at the end of the game.
On the defensive side of the ball, the split between Thomas Davis (74%) and Shaq Thompson (57%) at linebacker was interesting – Davis said this week that he still has “a long way to go” to get back to himself after being suspended for the first five weeks of the season, and the defensive line rotation continues to feature more Kyle Love (53%) than Dontari Poe (49%) – Love has made his presence felt the past two weeks with a fumble recovery in Philadelphia and an electrifying forced fumble Sunday that led to a Panthers score; that fumble was recovered by Vernon Butler (35%) after Luke Kuechly (91%) couldn’t hang on. Kuechly likely ceded a couple of his late-game duties with the Panthers up three scores to rookie Jermaine Carter, Jr (6%), who picked up his second tackle of his career.
With Mario Addison back to his full load (his 63% is actually a little higher than his season average), Julius Peppers (47%), Efe Obada (35%), Wes Horton (22%) and Bryan Cox, Jr (32%) rotated the rest of the snaps at defensive end – these seem like the types of numbers Eric Washington likes, with Peppers getting the most and then using some feel and intuition to fill out the rest – Washington has been saying all season that it’s not an exact science and the numbers will continue to fluctuate on a game-by-game basis.
Check out the rest of the snap counts below:
| Name | Position | Offensive Snaps | Percentage | Defensive Snaps | Percentage | Special Teams Snaps | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C Clark | T | 65 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
| G Van Roten | G | 65 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
| T Turner | G | 65 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
| C McCaffrey | RB | 64 | 98% | ||||
| T Moton | T | 63 | 97% | 6 | 21% | ||
| G Olsen | TE | 63 | 97% | 1 | 4% | ||
| R Kalil | C | 63 | 97% | ||||
| C Newton | QB | 62 | 95% | ||||
| D Funchess | WR | 48 | 74% | 1 | 4% | ||
| D Moore | WR | 46 | 71% | 3 | 11% | ||
| C Samuel | WR | 26 | 40% | 17 | 61% | ||
| C Manhertz | TE | 22 | 34% | 8 | 29% | ||
| J Wright | WR | 17 | 26% | ||||
| C Anderson | RB | 12 | 18% | 3 | 11% | ||
| A Armah | RB | 10 | 15% | 18 | 64% | ||
| D Byrd | WR | 9 | 14% | 14 | 50% | ||
| I Thomas | TE | 8 | 12% | 8 | 29% | ||
| T Heinicke | QB | 3 | 5% | ||||
| T Larsen | G | 2 | 3% | 6 | 21% | ||
| M Newhouse | T | 2 | 3% | 6 | 21% | ||
| J Bradberry | CB | 68 | 100% | 6 | 21% | ||
| M Adams | FS | 68 | 100% | 4 | 14% | ||
| D Jackson | CB | 67 | 99% | 4 | 14% | ||
| E Reid | SS | 64 | 94% | ||||
| L Kuechly | LB | 62 | 91% | 3 | 11% | ||
| T Davis | LB | 50 | 74% | 2 | 7% | ||
| C Munnerlyn | CB | 50 | 74% | ||||
| K Short | DT | 43 | 63% | 3 | 11% | ||
| M Addison | DE | 43 | 63% | 1 | 4% | ||
| S Thompson | LB | 39 | 57% | 14 | 50% | ||
| K Love | NT | 36 | 53% | ||||
| D Poe | NT | 33 | 49% | 1 | 4% | ||
| J Peppers | DE | 32 | 47% | 3 | 11% | ||
| E Obada | DE | 24 | 35% | 17 | 61% | ||
| V Butler | DT | 24 | 35% | 4 | 14% | ||
| B Cox | DE | 22 | 32% | 1 | 4% | ||
| W Horton | DE | 15 | 22% | 2 | 7% | ||
| C Jones | SS | 4 | 6% | 22 | 79% | ||
| J Carter | LB | 4 | 6% | 19 | 68% | ||
| B Jacobs | LB | 19 | 68% | ||||
| D Mayo | LB | 19 | 68% | ||||
| C Elder | CB | 13 | 46% | ||||
| G Gano | K | 12 | 43% | ||||
| J Jansen | LS | 10 | 36% |
