3 critical Carolina Panthers storylines vs. the Browns in Week 1
By Miles Ruder
How will Christian McCaffrey and Carolina Panthers’ offense look in Ben McAdoo’s scheme?
In addition to all the roster changes this offseason, the Carolina Panthers made an important appointment to the offensive coaching staff, hiring former New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo as the offensive coordinator.
McAdoo has run successful offenses in the past. Before taking over, the Giants had the 28th-highest-scoring offense in the league, which he helped improve to 13th and sixth in his two years calling plays.
He hasn’t held the offensive coordinator title since 2015. So it’ll be interesting to see what McAdoo schemes up and how he intends to use Christian McCaffrey against the Cleveland Browns.
The preseason is always quite vanilla and not very convoluted. This makes it hard to decipher how good the play calling will be when it matters.
McCaffrey didn’t play a snap in the preseason and rightfully so. He’s an All-Pro running back and one of the best dual-threat weapons in the league when healthy.
But that’s the issue. He’s been injured the past two seasons and missed 23 of a possible 33 games.
It will be interesting to see how McAdoo plans to use McCaffrey. He’s the offense’s biggest asset, but will he receive as many touches as in years past or will he be used as a decoy in a way to create space for others?
D.J. Moore leads the wide receiver room and is destined for a big season that garners the attention of the entire NFL landscape. The Panthers retained Robbie Anderson and Shi Smith while also adding Rashard Higgins into the mix.
The weapons are there to have a successful offense. But it all comes down to the execution.