3 reasons Panthers WR group can become NFL’s best in 2021
By Dean Jones
The Christian McCaffrey factor
Considering the Carolina Panthers only had Christian McCaffrey available for three games in 2020, it was remarkable they got all three of their wide receivers over 1,000 all-purpose yards. This had plenty to do with more targets in the All-Pro’s absence, but there is nothing to suggest things won’t get even better when the face of the franchise returns.
Hopefully, for both McCaffrey and the Panthers, there will be no more complications on the injury front. This was a man who’d never missed an NFL game before the previous campaign, after all.
McCaffrey lining up in the backfield completely changes the way a defense thinks. Their primary focus will be to limit the first-round pick having a substantial say on proceedings, so stacking the box on almost every down is the only real way to do this.
That means nothing but good news for Carolina’s wide receivers. They’ll get a lot more space to work, so providing the quarterback distribution from Sam Darnold is up to scratch, some explosive plays will follow.
Couple this with the promise of a more prominent pass-catching tight end on the field in Dan Arnold, and it not hard to see why great things could be in the Panthers’ future offensively.
And it won’t take much for the wideout room to enter the elite discussion if everything clicks into place.