Here at Cat Scratch Reader we have counted down the final 100 days leading up to the Carolina Panthers season opener by for at least the past ten years. We’ve always done this by highlighting the current player on the roster whose jersey number matches the day on the countdown. This year, we decided to change that up a bit by counting down our own list of the Top 100 Panthers of all time. This does not correspond to jersey number, does not need to be somebody who wore a jersey, and will in no way be controversial.
#85. Curtis Samuel
This is a fun one. If anyone reading this was a frequenter of the comment section circa 2019, you probably saw some references to a running bit where I hated Curtis Samuel. I never did hate him. I maybe just wasn’t as high on him as the Panthers fan consensus, which saw him as a perpetual future number two wide receiver that never was.
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That wasn’t to say he was a bad player, which is how he managed to sneak onto the list of top 100 Panthers. If that seems high to you, I’ll point out that Samuel is actually 11th all time on the Panthers receiving leaderboard and eighth among wide receivers. He’s sixth in franchise history for all purpose yards among wide receivers, and he’s sixth in franchise history for touchdowns scored by a wide receiver. You probably don’t need me to tell you that the Panthers don’t have the most storied history of wide receivers.
The Panther drafted Curtis Samuel presumably as a wide receiver/gadget athlete player. However, the offensive brain trust head by head coach Ron Rivera and Mike Shula never figured out how to make that work. Samuel struggled with some injuries early in his career and was largely limited to a standard slot receiver role with some kick return duties. He had his best season in Carolina in a reworked offense led by offensive coordinator and future scapegoat Joe Brady. Brady made more a point to get Samuel the ball in space, and he was lined up in the backfield more often to handle the occasional running back carry. In that season, Samuel totaled 851 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns on 77 catches while adding 200 yards and two touchdowns on 41 carries. That would end up being his last season in Carolina, as he left to rejoin Ron Rivera and his old college roommate Terry McLaurin on the Washington Commanders.
Samuel’s career will largely be remembered for its “what if” nature. While he never missed a bunch of games outside of his rookie year, he was frequently marred by muscle injuries throughout his career. He was also somewhat victimized by an uncreative and antiquated offense that didn’t really know how to use his speed for the first three years of his career. He’ll always be that guy that could do more but never really took that next step.
Still, he was able to make enough of a mark on the franchise that he climbed pretty high up the receiving leaderboards and cemented himself pretty comfortably within the top ten at his position in the team’s history.
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