Friday, July 27, 2018

Panthers Want a Bigger Role for Christian McCaffrey

Posted by Doc Fantasy
Friday, July 27, 2018 | 0 comments

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Panthers Want a Bigger Role for Christian McCaffrey
Date: July 27th | 2018

AP News Sports Writer, Steve Reed, believes Christian McCaffrey will have an even bigger role in the Panthers’ offense this season.

Reed also reports that Ron Rivera believes McCaffrey is up to the task, saying he can be a running back who carries the ball 200 times this season.

“Yeah, why not?” Rivera said of the prospect of a 200-carry season. “Everybody forgets that when he was (at Stanford) he carried the ball between the tackles more than anybody and touched the ball more than anybody. I don’t see why not.”

Rivera was also quoted saying that getting McCaffrey the ball 25-30 times would be “ideal.”

Fantasy Spin

McCaffrey was already a success with his role last season, finishing as the RB10 in PPR leagues per FantasyPros.com. Any boost in McCaffrey’s workload would push him towards a potential top-5 fantasy finish. It is hard to see this shaking out once we get into the season however with C.J. Anderson now a more capable counterpart in the backfield and Cam Newton a constant threat to take it on his own. While the favorite knock on McCaffrey from last season was his 3.7 yards per carry, many have noted his progress as the season went on as he averaged 4.6 yards per carry over his last 8 games. Matt Waldman also recently gave high praise to McCaffrey’s footwork and blamed the coaching staff for getting “gadget-happy” early in the season. McCaffrey should be a lock for another top-10 RB season in PPR leagues at least with room to grow if they truly up his workload.

Tough Opening of Camp for Devin Funchess
Date: July 27th | 2018

In commenting on the highlights of the opening night of Carolina Panthers training camp, panthers.com reporter, Max Henson, noted “It was a tough opening night for wide receiver Devin Funchess. After dropping a quick slant late in the session, the wideout limped off with leg cramps and sat out the remainder of practice.”

Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer noted the same instance and added that cramps are “something he (Funchess) has dealt with for much of his career.”

Fantasy Spin

Funchess is in a contract year and looking to build on his breakout last season to show that he can be the true WR1 this team needs. It won’t be easy however as rookie first-round pick D.J. Moore made highlights in the Panthers’ first day juking defenders and fielding punts. We will also need to see what kind of a workload Funchess will be able to command with Greg Olsen back in the mix. Funchess is a bit of a risky pick for my liking with a lot of question marks surrounding his role, but his current 8th round ADP on fantasyfootballcalculator.com is rather fair. Funchess finished last season as the WR21 in PPR leagues. Funchess really needs a solid camp to carry over some momentum into the season.

Source: panthers.com
Written By: John Ferguson | @FantasyFerguson