The New Offensive Trio In Carolina
The NFC South is a division that consists of offensive trios that should give defenses nightmares this season. With all of this explosive talent, there will be points on top of points just waiting to be scored. Be ready to anticipate a ton of high scoring games from this division this year. Just read through this list of trios:
The Saints have Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara, and Michael Thomas. The Buccaneers have Tom Brady, Ronald Jones II, and Mike Evans. The Falcons have Matt Ryan, Todd Gurley, and Julio Jones. With all of this talent in one division, it had to be essential for Marty Hurney to make moves to match all of this offensive firepower.
Luckily, those moves were made. This started with the Panthers signing Teddy Bridgewater to a three-year, $63 million deal this offseason. Bridgewater was 5-0 as the starting quarterback of the Saints in 2019, and one could make the argument that he may have even more weapons in his arsenal this season. While the featured trio is likely to be Bridgewater, Anderson, and McCaffrey, we can't forget about the likes of D.J. Moore and Curtis Samuel. These two are highly explosive receivers who are only improving as they gain more experience in the NFL. Bridgewater has a lot to look forward to with this high quality receiving corps.
With nearly 1400 yards, nine touchdowns, and only two interceptions during his starting run, Bridgewater was able to show the league that he is still highly capable of being a quality starter in the NFL. A breakout season may be on its way for the twenty-seven year old.
Christian McCaffrey was the entire Panthers offense in 2019. No disrespect to Moore and Samuel, who produced decent statistics for the team, but both of them combined didn't have as much impact as McCaffrey had for the Panthers' offense last year. He is only the third player in NFL history to be a member of the 1K-1K club after having 1,387 rushing yards and 1,098 receiving yards. McCaffrey was one of the greatest highlights on a lackluster 2019 Panthers squad. He will look to continue his reign of terror on opposing defenses in 2020.
Last but certainly not least, there's this new dynamic wide receiver in town who everyone has been seemingly buzzing about: Robby Anderson. The free agent signed a two-year, $20 million deal with Carolina, and he is looking to become one of the primary weapons on offensive coordinator Joe Brady's new offense. In all sixteen starts with the New York Jets in 2019, Anderson had a total of 52 receptions for 779 yards and five touchdowns.
While Anderson is arguably the most explosive receiver on this offense, some may argue that D.J. Moore should be the number one guy. After all, Moore had a better 2019 season than Anderson. To compare, in fifteen starts with the Panthers, Moore had 87 receptions for 1,175 yards and four touchdowns.
Whether the legitimate number one wideout to be featured in the Panthers' offensive trio ends up being Anderson or Moore, it will be exciting nonetheless to see how this Panthers offense operates in the 2020 season.
You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top right hand corner of the page. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook & Twitter:
Facebook - @PanthersOnSI
Twitter - @SI_Panthers and Jason Hewitt at @jasonhewitt50
