Curtis Samuel Fantasy News and Statistics

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Curtis Samuel set himself up for success early in his football career. He was a four-star recruit coming out of high school and enrolled a semester early at Ohio State University in order to gain an edge over the competition. And it worked.

Samuel was a member of a very dominant Buckeyes football program, so he was fortunate to be able to see a lot of playing time in blowout situations during his freshman year. While lining up at running back during a 66-0 blowout win over Kent State, he had 15 rushes for 100 yards and a pair of touchdowns in his third career game. He also had four catches for 40 yards in the contest. By the end of the year, he had amassed nearly 400 rushing yards while averaging 6.6 yards per carry.

Although his success at running back indicated he could have a bright future at the position, the team had other plans. Since he would have been stuck behind Ezekiel Elliott for a few years, the Buckeyes decided to move Samuel to wide receiver, where he could have more of an impact on the team’s offense. Unfortunately for Samuel, that was the year Braxton Miller also moved to wide receiver to make room for J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones at quarterback. The Buckeyes, led by Elliott’s dominance, were a run-heavy team yet again. While Samuel received playing time, he only eclipsed 50 receiving yards in a game once, in a blowout win over Hawaii.

In 2016, wide receivers Michael Thomas, Jalin Marshall and Braxton Miller all were drafted by NFL teams, and so was Elliot. That drastically changed the layout of the Buckeyes offense, but it was definitely beneficial for Samuel. He skyrocketed to No. 1 on the team’s depth chart at wide receiver after being their No. 4 guy the year before. Not only that, but the Buckeyes also used him extensively as a running back. While he recorded 865 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 74 catches, he also had 97 carries for 771 rushing yards and eight scores on the ground. In the team’s opener, a blowout win over Bowling Green, he recorded nine catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 84 rushing yards and a scoring run on 13 carries.

The success that Samuel enjoyed both as a running back and as a wide receiver during his college football career made him an intriguing draft choice. The Carolina Panthers were interested in what he could do, so they selected him in the second round of this past NFL Draft.

All indications are that Samuel will be a slot receiver this season since Cam Newton, Christian McCaffrey and Jonathan Stewart will be battling for reps on the ground. Samuel dealt with hamstring problems during camp, so it may be tough for him to be an impact wide receiver on the same team as Greg Olsen and Kelvin Benjamin, although he could definitely be a complementary piece of the team’s run and pass games.