Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
On Sunday, Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey accounted for 74.5 percent of his offense’s yards from scrimmage—the second-highest share of the past two decades.
[sendtonews_embed video_id=”FICds7QRai-2303759-7498″]
A change at head coach and a different starting quarterback wasn’t enough to spark an immediate change for the Carolina Panthers—as they lost, 24-10, to the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams.
Here are our studs and duds from Sunday’s Week 6 defeat.
The Panthers, through five weeks of the 2022 season, are the NFL’s only team to have each of their five starting offensive linemen play in every snap.
What did yesterday’s snap counts reveal about the Week 5 clash between the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers?
Let’s dive in.
The Panthers will be without both LB Frankie Luvu and S Xavier Woods today against the 49ers.
With Jeremy Chinn out for at least the next four weeks, the Carolina Panthers could really use the presence of fellow safety Xavier Woods at the moment. And, unfortunately, that won’t be the case.
Listed as questionable on Week 5’s final injury report, Woods is inactive for this afternoon’s contest against the San Francisco 49ers. Linebacker Frankie Luvu, who was also slapped with the questionable designation, is out as well.
Both Luvu and Woods have been quite busy for the unit this season. The duo currently leads Carolina in tackles—with 32 and 30, respectively.
Perhaps the most notable active player, as confirmed by head coach Matt Rhule on Friday, is receiver Terrace Marshall Jr. The second-year wideout has struggled to find a place in his sophomore season, having been in uniform for just half of the team’s outings thus far.
He’s recorded six offensive snaps and zero targets in 2022.
Here is who won’t be on the field for the Panthers on Sunday:
The visiting 49ers will also be without a few key names:
[lawrence-related id=659510,659507]
[listicle id=659295]
Panthers WR Terrace Marshall Jr., who has recorded just six offensive snaps and zero targets in 2022, will be in uniform against the 49ers in Week 5.
Carolina Panthers wideout Terrace Marshall Jr. hasn’t gotten many, if any, opportunities here in his second pro season. That could change this weekend.
On Friday, head coach Matt Rhule told reporters that Marshall Jr. will be active for the team’s Week 5 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. The decision comes in light of Sunday’s status for fellow receiver Laviska Shenault Jr.—who has already been ruled out due to a pair of hamstring injuries.
Rhule, however, did insist that Marshall Jr. would’ve been in uniform—whether Shenault Jr. was up or not.
Rhule says regardless Shenault's status, WR Terrace Marshall would have been active this week.
Says he's had three really good weeks of practice.
— Darin Gantt (@daringantt) October 7, 2022
This, obviously, is an encouraging sign for the 22-year-old—who hasn’t gotten much of any burn in 2022. Marshall Jr. has suited up for two games this season, registering just six offensive snaps and zero targets.
The transition to the NFL has been a slow one for 2021 second-round pick. Despite putting together an impressive preseason last summer, Marshall Jr.’s rookie campaign resulted in just 17 catches for 138 yards over 13 games.
[pickup_prop id=”28421″]
[lawrence-related id=659327,658777]
[listicle id=659191]
PFF’s Brad Spielberger tabbed Terrace Marshall Jr. as an early-season trade candidate. But he can also see the Panthers acquiring another WR in need of a change.
Carolina Panthers wideout Terrace Marshall Jr. has gone from a breakout candidate to a left-out one in a span of just a year. And now, he might be on the way out at some point this season.
That’s the thinking from Pro Football Focus salary cap analyst Brad Spielberger, who listed Marshall Jr. as one of nine early-season trade targets this week. Spielberger believes Marshall Jr., especially with Sunday’s emergence of another recent second-round receiver, may no longer have a place in Carolina.
“Marshall was a healthy scratch in Week 3 and is squarely in the doghouse in Carolina it appears, as the team got Laviska Shenault Jr. up to speed and on the field after acquiring him via trade before Marshall even took his first snap this season,” he writes. “Marshall was a second-round draft pick just last season, but his NFL career has hardly gotten off the ground thus far, and unlike with Denzel Mims and the Jets, it’s not due to the fact Carolina is loaded with pass-catchers. In fact, the opposite is true, which makes his lack of usage all the more concerning.”
Despite an eye-opening preseason to his rookie campaign, Marshall Jr. didn’t move the needle in 2021—amassing just 138 receiving yards over 17 catches. Unfortunately, that needle remains untouched by the 22-year-old, who has recorded six more snaps than he has targets thus far in 2022. (He has zero targets.)
Spielberger then suggests the Panthers could trade the 2021 draftee to the receiver-needy Green Bay Packers for a 2024 fifth-round pick.
“The Packers would have to convince themselves that a change of scenery would jumpstart Marshall’s pro career, getting him back to looking like a guy who could hang with Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase as the youngest of the dynamic LSU wide receiver trio in 2019,” he adds. “Here, they give up a fifth-round pick despite very little production thus far for Marshall because there are still three years remaining on his rookie contract.”
Oh, and it’s also worth noting that the piece suggests the Panthers trade for New York Jets wideout Denzel Mims. Hey, at least he already knows the guy who runs the place.
[lawrence-related id=657106,658479]
[listicle id=658603]
You (yes, you) played just as many snaps in Week 1 as Panthers WRs Terrace Marshall Jr. and Rashard Higgins did combined.
Although it was only one game—and the very first one at that—the Carolina Panthers’ Week 1 loss to the Cleveland Browns told us quite a bit about the team as it stands. And some of that revealing information came in how their snaps were distributed.
Here are the standout counts for Sunday’s season opener.
The Panthers aren’t shopping Robbie Anderson and Terrace Marshall Jr. They have, however, reportedly received some calls on the two wideouts.
According to numerous reports, the Carolina Panthers are not shopping Robbie Anderson or Terrace Marshall Jr. So let’s just get that bit of innuendo out of the way first.
That, however, doesn’t mean there isn’t some outside interest in the two wideouts.
As noted by Joseph Person of The Athletic, the Panthers have received calls on the potential availability of Anderson and Marshall Jr. With rosters now down to their 53-man limits as of 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, teams are apparently looking for some added firepower in their receiver rooms.
“Teams have called the Panthers to see if Terrace Marshall or Robbie Anderson is available,” Person writes. “The Panthers don’t plan to trade either player, but Fitterer had said he’ll always listen.”
“Listen,” of course, is the operative word here.
Fitterer has previously said he and the team would always listen on offers about any of their players. And why not? It’s just diligent business.
So while it remains unlikely that the Panthers go out of their way to send off either man—both of whom had disappointing 2021 campaigns—they’re still worth keeping the slightest eye on with more moves coming today.
[pickup_prop id=”26573″]
[lawrence-related id=657108,657099]
[listicle id=656932]
The Panthers finally unleashed CB Jaycee Horn, who racked up a team-high in defensive snaps on Friday night.
The Carolina Panthers gave us a pretty nice preview on Friday night, throwing out the bulk of the starters for a good chunk of time against the Buffalo Bills. So, what can we draw from the revealing 21-0 victory?
Here are the snap count standouts from the preseason finale.
Last summer, Panthers WR Terrace Marshall Jr. was seemingly everybody’s breakout candidate. Now, just a year later, he’s been named as a trade candidate.
Carolina Panthers receiver Terrace Marshall Jr. was flying high around this very same time last year. The rookie absolutely owned the summer, following up a particularly impressive training camp with an eye-opening display of preseason performances.
He established himself, by quite a few accounts, as one of the most popular breakout candidates for the 2021 season. But now, in one heck of a twist, Marshall Jr. has been named a trade candidate for the 2022 season.
With roster bubbles set to burst next week, NFL.com lead draft writer Eric Edholm listed players who could soon be cut loose or shipped away. He includes Marshall Jr., noting that head coach Matt Rhule may be losing confidence in his once highly-touted pass catcher.
“This is pure conjecture here; we’ve heard no credible reports the Panthers are shopping Marshall,” Edholm writes. “But it’s hard not to see Matt Rhule’s frustration mounting with the 2021 second-rounder, who has battled a hamstring injury.
“Marshall was back in action last week during the Patriots’ joint practices, but he tweaked the hamstring and did not play in the game. ‘We need Terrace to start practicing,’ Rhule said. ‘We need him to step up.'”
“A trade might be a bit of a dramatic step to take at this stage, unless the Panthers truly don’t believe Marshall can overcome the health issues that apparently have followed him from LSU to Charlotte. Other Panthers receivers, including Shi Smith and Rashard Higgins, have stepped up in Marshall’s absence. But is it enough to convince GM Scott Fitterer to trade away one of his first Carolina draft picks?”
Marshall Jr. followed up his stellar preseason play in 2021 with a disappointing rookie campaign. After amassing 181 receiving yards over three exhibition contests, he totaled just 138 yards on 17 receptions in 13 actual games.
Meanwhile, Smith and Higgins really have stepped up in their opportunities of late. Smith is proving to be a big-play threat, on offense and possibly on special teams, while Higgins has been one of the most consistently solid Panthers thus far.
Luckily for Marshall Jr., he’ll still have some time to reestablish himself and realize that potential. But that time continues to wind down with the wideout room growing stuffier and Week 1 quickly approaching.
[lawrence-related id=656787,656782]
[listicle id=656710]
Does Baker Mayfield have that dog in him? Panthers WR Shi Smith thinks he does.
Part of the reason why the Carolina Panthers kept Baker Mayfield in a quarterback competition with Sam Darnold was so that he could earn the respect of his new teammates. And, obviously, he has.
On Wednesday, we got some direct confirmation of that—as a pair of the team’s wideouts hit the podium for some post-practice pressers. Terrace Marshall Jr. gave his two cents first, stating that the guys have already taken well to Mayfield.
“Baker’s a great leader,” Marshall Jr. said. “He’s a great quarterback. I feel like the team’s attracted to him well. And ready to get started.”
Fellow second-year receiver Shi Smith had a similar sentiment, even though he hadn’t seen much of Mayfield prior to him arriving in Carolina.
“To be honest, like, I didn’t really watch him like that when he wasn’t my teammate,” Smith said with a smile. “But I knew he had it in him, as far as coming out of college and stuff. I remember the stuff he did. I knew he had that dog mentality in him. Now, I know he wanna win.”
The Panthers will get a chance to win on Friday, when they’ll see some action against the visiting Buffalo Bills. And although it’s just a preseason contest, this game could be one that sets the tone from here on out—for Mayfield, Marshall Jr., Smith and the rest of the offense.
[lawrence-related id=656778,656687]
[listicle id=656710]
