With the biggest news coming out of New England being that Cam Newton’s foot injury appears not to be serious, it’s time to take a look at the snap counts to determine which players the coaches wanted to get an extended look at during the Panthers Week 3 preseason game – widely considered to be the dress rehearsal for the regular season.
Once Newton left with an injury after three drives, Kyle Allen and Will Grier each played 17 snaps.
With the starters slated to only play a few series, Christian McCaffrey (11) and Greg Olsen (9) had limited snaps – after Ron Rivera said on Tuesday that they wanted to look at Elijah Holyfield (1) and Jordan Scarlett (16) a lot this game, the Panthers’ fifth-round pick was the only one to see extended playing time and produced 24 yards on 10 carries.
“We got to see Elijah early on [in the preseason] and we hadn’t had a real good chance to take a look at Jordan so we wanted to play him a lot and as far as we could take him,” Rivera explained after the game. Reggie Bonnafon (17), who is also battling for a roster spot, had the most snaps of any running back and had 37 yards on four touches, including a 27-yard catch-and-run and a short-yardage carry. Cameron Artis-Payne did not see the field on offense, although he did dress and played two special teams snaps. Bonnafon also had 11 special teams reps.
The starting offensive line unit received 17 snaps and once again, rookie Dennis Daley saw a lot of time – Daley (31) had the most snaps of any offensive player. Ian Thomas, who missed last week’s game with a rib injury, also saw 31 snaps as the Panthers work to get him up to game speed for the opener in two weeks against the Rams.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Panthers took a long look at Efe Obada (50), who had the most snaps by far of any Panther – some of this may have been due to Vernon Butler not making the trip with an undisclosed injury.
Also not making the trip was Rashaan Gaulden, who left midway through Tuesday’s practice and didn’t travel to New England as a “coaches decision”.
Quin Blanding (44) saw a lot of action with no Gaulden on the trip and the starting safeties each getting 28 snaps – Brian Burns produced two sacks and a forced fumble in 42 snaps while fellow edge rusher Marquis Haynes saw 40. In the battle for nickel corner, Corn Elder (18) got a slight advantage, rep wise, over Javien Elliott (16), who started the game at nickel.
“Our plan was once we got through the first quarter, we were taking Luke [Kuechly] and Shaq [Thompson] out,” said Rivera. “Once we got to a little bit further, we took out the remainder of the front and then we got to another point and we took out the DBs – we did that consciously. And so we finished the first quarter and I was pleased with a couple of things that we did. Again, there were some limited things that we did but I was happy with the things that we did up front initially. We missed a couple of coverages, we got a couple of chances to make some plays on the ball but Tom Brady, he’s tremendous and he made some real good throws. But it was good to see our guys run around, I was pretty happy overall.”
Check out the rest of the snap counts below:
| Player | Position | Offense | Percentage | Defense | Percentage | Special Teams | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D Daley | T | 31 | 69% | ||||
| I Thomas | TE | 31 | 69% | ||||
| T Hearn | G | 28 | 62% | 1 | 4% | ||
| P Collins | C | 28 | 62% | 1 | 4% | ||
| T Larsen | G | 28 | 62% | ||||
| J Mickens | WR | 21 | 47% | 2 | 9% | ||
| G Little | T | 21 | 47% | 1 | 4% | ||
| T Godwin | WR | 20 | 44% | 8 | 35% | ||
| R Bonnafon | RB | 17 | 38% | 11 | 48% | ||
| C Manhertz | TE | 17 | 38% | 3 | 13% | ||
| G Van Roten | G | 17 | 38% | ||||
| M Paradis | C | 17 | 38% | ||||
| D Williams | T | 17 | 38% | ||||
| T Moton | T | 17 | 38% | ||||
| K Allen | QB | 17 | 38% | ||||
| D Moore | WR | 17 | 38% | ||||
| W Grier | QB | 17 | 38% | ||||
| J Scarlett | RB | 16 | 36% | 10 | 43% | ||
| C Samuel | WR | 16 | 36% | ||||
| T Turner | G | 14 | 31% | ||||
| C McCaffrey | RB | 11 | 24% | ||||
| C Newton | QB | 11 | 24% | ||||
| T Smith | WR | 11 | 24% | ||||
| D White | WR | 10 | 22% | 6 | 26% | ||
| G Olsen | TE | 9 | 20% | ||||
| J Wright | WR | 8 | 18% | ||||
| A Levrone | WR | 7 | 16% | 4 | 17% | ||
| R Ross | WR | 7 | 16% | 2 | 9% | ||
| K Amichia | G | 7 | 16% | 1 | 4% | ||
| A Armah | RB | 5 | 11% | 7 | 30% | ||
| E Holyfield | RB | 1 | 2% | 10 | 43% | ||
| C Hogan | WR | 1 | 2% | 3 | 13% | ||
| E Obada | DE | 50 | 65% | 2 | 9% | ||
| Q Blanding | DB | 44 | 57% | 6 | 26% | ||
| B Burns | DE | 42 | 55% | 3 | 13% | ||
| M Haynes | DE | 40 | 52% | 9 | 39% | ||
| L Doss | CB | 39 | 51% | 6 | 26% | ||
| R Cockrell | CB | 38 | 49% | 8 | 35% | ||
| A Smith | LB | 33 | 43% | 9 | 39% | ||
| W Hamilton | DT | 31 | 40% | 2 | 9% | ||
| D Parms | SS | 29 | 38% | 5 | 22% | ||
| T Boston | FS | 28 | 36% | 1 | 4% | ||
| E Reid | SS | 28 | 36% | 1 | 4% | ||
| J Bradberry | CB | 28 | 36% | 1 | 4% | ||
| D Jackson | CB | 27 | 35% | 1 | 4% | ||
| J Norris | LB | 24 | 31% | 9 | 39% | ||
| J Carter | LB | 24 | 31% | 4 | 17% | ||
| K Love | NT | 24 | 31% | ||||
| B Cox | DE | 23 | 30% | 3 | 13% | ||
| J Kunaszyk | LB | 20 | 26% | 10 | 43% | ||
| A Williams | LB | 20 | 26% | 4 | 17% | ||
| M Addison | DE | 20 | 26% | 1 | 4% | ||
| D Poe | NT | 20 | 26% | 1 | 4% | ||
| B Irvin | DE | 20 | 26% | 1 | 4% | ||
| B Jackson | NT | 20 | 26% | ||||
| C Miller | LB | 19 | 25% | 10 | 43% | ||
| G McCoy | DT | 19 | 25% | 1 | 4% | ||
| K Short | DT | 19 | 25% | 1 | 4% | ||
| S Thompson | LB | 19 | 25% | ||||
| L Kuechly | LB | 19 | 25% | ||||
| C Elder | CB | 18 | 23% | 7 | 30% | ||
| J Elliott | CB | 16 | 21% | 4 | 17% | ||
| R Pulley | DB | 16 | 21% | 2 | 9% | ||
| S Teuhema | LB | 15 | 19% | 6 | 26% | ||
| C Luke | CB | 9 | 12% | 7 | 30% | ||
| C Ballard | DB | 5 | 6% | 1 | 4% | ||
| J Jansen | LS | 11 | 48% | ||||
| M Palardy | P | 11 | 48% | ||||
| T Hemingway | TE | 9 | 39% | ||||
| B Bell | LB | 6 | 26% | ||||
| J Vander Laan | TE | 5 | 22% | ||||
| M Baugh | TE | 5 | 22% | ||||
| J Slye | K | 3 | 13% | ||||
| C Artis-Payne | RB | 2 | 9% | ||||
| J Yarbrough | C | 1 | 4% | ||||
| D Jeanpiere | WR | 1 | 4% | ||||
| R Cook | G | 1 | 4% | ||||
| J Thornton | CB | 1 | 4% | ||||
| C Hunt | TE | 1 | 4% |
