Long Anticipations With Curtis Samuel
Long Anticipations with Curtis Samuel
Curtis Samuel started his career coming out of Ohio State being drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the second round, 40th pick overall. Fast forward to this year, he rejoined former Panthers Head Coach Ron Rivera and former Buckeye Terry McLaurin. Rivera said he is going to take it slow with Samuel at the start of the season to help prevent a re-injury from early last season.
Samuel has good size standing at 5 foot 11 inches while able to run a 4.31 40 yard dash. His best fantasy season came his 4th year with the Panthers playing third fiddle next to Robbie Anderson and DJ Moore. The Commanders have a great three headed receiving core in Samuel, McLaurin and rookie Jahan Dotson.
Samuel began this season anything but slow. He finished inside the top 13 wide receivers the first two weeks. He has slightly slowed his production the next couple of weeks, but remains to maintain his catch rate with the targets he is given. Samuel has been averaging 7 targets per game with a 22 percent target share rate from quarterback Carson Wentz. This season, Samuel has amassed 26 receptions on 37 targets for 219 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns.
Samuel’s usage on this offense has been what the Commanders were hoping he would bring to the team last season before his groin injury.
We have seen players take off in the league from the start of their careers. Others are late bloomers that need a chance and a head couch to believe in their talent. Corderralle Patterson was last year’s fantasy darling off the waiver wire last season. Patterson took the fantasy world by storm being a top tier option until the past four weeks. Samuel is that player this year. Rivera believes in Samuel, who he helped develop and utilize early on in his career.
The Commanders will be without Dotson for the next two weeks due to a hamstring injury. This will only help Samuel garner more production. So if this is the sort of production that Rivera considers taking it slow, just wait for him to be unleashed later in the season. Start Samuel with confidence and anticipate the rise of Curtis Samuel.