Even though they incorporated some interesting new concepts last season, the Panthers still run a pretty old school offense. One major question that will decide how well the unit performs is how offensive coordinator Norv Turner puts his two best wide receivers to work.
Turner was asked by team reporter Max Henson to weigh in on the subject of where D.J. Moore and Curtis Samuel will be lined up. He said there’s not a large enough sample size to make a judgment on that yet.
While Turner has a point that there’s not much to go on, the data suggests that Moore is much more productive from the slot than outside and the opposite is true for Samuel.
If the Panthers are really putting that new analytics department to work, the snaps this season should probably reflect that. More likely, they’ll continue to force-feed the idea of a traditional WR1 from the X spot (Moore) and keep using Samuel from the slot sometimes even though he’s more dangerous outside.
Turner could just be throwing other teams off the scent, though. Time will tell if he knows how to maximize the considerable talents he has at his disposal at this position.
