What’s the right role for Curtis Samuel?
Curtis Samuel is entering his fourth season in the NFL. So far, his career has been defined by occasional flashes of brilliance but unfulfilled possibilities. Most of that has not been Samuel’s fault.
First, his rookie season was cut short due to medical issues and injuries, then Cam Newton got injured, then last year backups like Kyle Allen and Will Grier couldn’t find a rhythm with him. Samuel had one of the NFL’s highest uncatchable ball rates in 2019.
Add it all up and you have a seriously underrated playmaker who is still waiting on a true breakout campaign. Hopefully Brady’s scheme will finally unleash Samule’s potential. The question is what the right role is for him.
At Ohio State, Samuel was frequently used as a rusher as well as a receiver. In Carolina, he’s mostly been used as a field stretcher and he’s only seen 31 carries despite averaging an impressive nine yards per attempt. With Robby Anderson joining the team we should expect him to take over running many of those low-percentage, high-reward kind of routes that Samuel has been the last few years.
Brady shouldn’t be afraid to use Samuel in new ways and move him closer to the line of scrimmage to take advantage of his quickness. If he can finally get Samuel posting the kinds of numbers he’s capable of, it will be an overwhelmingly positive sign for this unit’s future.
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