Carolina Panthers Fantasy Preview

2018 Stats (Rank)

Total Offense: 5,972 yards (10th)
Offensive Touchdowns: 45 (11th)
Offensive Plays Per Game: 63.2 (16th)
Pass Attempts + Sacks: 595 (16th)
Rush Attempts: 416 (12th)
Run/Pass Split: Run – 41% | Pass – 59%
Unaccounted for Targets: 86
Unaccounted for Carries: 35

Projected Win Total

The Panthers over/under currently sits at 7.5, after they went 7-9 last season. Not much changed for the Panthers this offseason and that shows, in the projected win total. Losing Devin Funchess may hurt the team a bit, but they are going to rely on the ground game of Newton and McCaffrey to lead them to victory.

Strength of Schedule

SOS is measured by calculating the fantasy points allowed by each team’s opponents to determine who has the easiest and most difficult fantasy schedules (rank #1 has the easiest schedule).

QB: 3rd
RB: 10th
WR: 7th
TE: 28th

Passing Game

QB: Cam Newton, Will Grier
WR: D.J. Moore, Jarius Wright
WR: Curtis Samuel, Torrey Smith
WR: Chris Hogan, Aldrick Robinson
TE: Greg Olsen, Ian Thomas

The Panthers have tons of weapons in the passing game this year. With no doubt, McCaffrey will receive a huge bulk of the targets, which will lead to another top running back season, but outside of McCaffrey it is fair game to who will jump in as that number two option. With the departure of Devin Funchess, two receivers will have to battle it out to be the WR1 of this team. D.J. Moore, who has an ADP of WR24, is most likely being slotted to take over as the team’s WR1, and Curtis Samuel is likely going to be the WR2. However, Samuel may offer more value at his current ADP of WR47, as Samuel was able to put up similar if not better numbers when they both placed last season.

Both Cam Newton and Greg Olson are expected to be back healthy, which means they both bring fantasy relevance to their positions. Newton is currently being selected at QB9, while Olson is just TE17.

Running Game

RB: Christian McCaffrey, Cameron Artis-Payne, Jordan Scarlett
2018 OL Run Rank: (11th)

It does not take a lot of analysis to realize that this team has one of the league’s best rushing attacks, and they will continue to utilize that for the 2019 season. Christian McCaffrey and Newton will continue to provide great fantasy value on the ground, and with the addition of Pro Bowler Matt Paradis to the already good offensive line, this team is only going to improve on the ground for the 2019 season. CMC is currently being drafted as RB2 in PPR leagues.