Curtis Samuel is heading for free agency, and he’ll have a market. He’s improved as a pass catcher, and he’s also an asset on running plays.
Samuel was raw coming out of Ohio State, where they used him in a simplified role. But he’s developed nicely, to where he was one of the league’s best third receivers last year. For the bulk of the season, there wasn’t much difference in Carolina between him and their other two main wide receivers (DJ Moore and Robby Anderson). Samuel caught 77 passes.
And Samuel is not only a wide receiver but can also be used like a running back. With the Panthers missing Christian McCaffrey for most of the season, they would flex Samuel into the backfield often, having Samuel doing some McCaffrey-type things, both running and receiving.
For the season, Samuel carried 41 times for 200 yards and 2 TDs. That was one of the top-10 rushing seasons by a wide receiver in the last 20 years.
That’s a concept that’s been on the rise around the league in general – using wide receivers as runners.
Below are the top 30 rushing seasons by wide receivers since 2000 (using 1 point for every 10 rushing yards and 6 points for touchdowns). Of those 30, five were put together by wide receivers in the just-completed season.
RUSHING WIDE RECEIVERS (since 2000) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | Pts |
2015 | Tavon Austin, St.L. | 52 | 434 | 8.4 | 4 | 67.4 |
2011 | Percy Harvin, MIn. | 52 | 345 | 6.6 | 2 | 46.5 |
2016 | Tyreek Hill, K.C. | 24 | 267 | 11.1 | 3 | 44.7 |
2009 | Josh Cribbs, Cle. | 55 | 381 | 6.9 | 1 | 44.1 |
2010 | Brad Smith, NYJ | 38 | 299 | 7.9 | 1 | 35.9 |
2014 | Tavon Austin, St.L. | 36 | 224 | 6.2 | 2 | 34.4 |
2019 | Deebo Samuel, S.F. | 14 | 159 | 11.4 | 3 | 33.9 |
2013 | Cordarrelle Patterson, MIn. | 12 | 158 | 13.2 | 3 | 33.8 |
2017 | Tavon Austin, LAR | 59 | 270 | 4.6 | 1 | 33.0 |
2020 | Curtis Samuel, Car. | 41 | 200 | 4.9 | 2 | 32.0 |
2020 | Cordarrelle Patterson, Chi. | 64 | 232 | 3.6 | 1 | 29.2 |
2018 | Cordarrelle Patterson, N.E. | 42 | 228 | 5.4 | 1 | 28.8 |
2020 | Robert Woods, LAR | 24 | 155 | 6.5 | 2 | 27.5 |
2010 | Jacoby Ford, Oak. | 10 | 155 | 15.5 | 2 | 27.5 |
2000 | Peter Warrick, Cin. | 16 | 148 | 9.3 | 2 | 26.8 |
2009 | Brad Smith, NYJ | 18 | 207 | 11.5 | 1 | 26.7 |
2014 | Percy Harvin, Sea.-NYJ | 33 | 202 | 6.1 | 1 | 26.2 |
2002 | James Thrash, Phil. | 18 | 126 | 7.0 | 2 | 24.6 |
2020 | Tyreek Hill, K.C. | 13 | 123 | 9.5 | 2 | 24.3 |
2017 | Cordarrelle Patterson, Oak. | 13 | 121 | 9.3 | 2 | 24.1 |
2008 | Josh Cribbs, Cle. | 29 | 167 | 5.8 | 1 | 22.7 |
2016 | Tavon Austin, L.A. | 28 | 159 | 5.7 | 1 | 21.9 |
2018 | Robert Woods, LAR | 19 | 157 | 8.3 | 1 | 21.7 |
2018 | Tyreek Hill, K.C. | 22 | 151 | 6.9 | 1 | 21.1 |
2013 | Tavon Austin, St.L. | 9 | 151 | 16.8 | 1 | 21.1 |
2018 | Curtis Samuel, Car. | 8 | 84 | 10.5 | 2 | 20.4 |
2020 | Brandon Aiyuk, S.F. | 6 | 77 | 12.8 | 2 | 19.7 |
2009 | DeSean Jackson, Phil. | 11 | 137 | 12.5 | 1 | 19.7 |
2008 | Ted Ginn, Mia. | 5 | 73 | 14.6 | 2 | 19.3 |
2015 | Mohamed Sanu, Cin. | 10 | 71 | 7.1 | 2 | 19.1 |
With Samuel’s all-round game, I think he’ll draw considerable interest as teams start mulling how to improve their rosters.
—Ian Allan