The McCaffrey/Samuel Effect on Stewart

[Woodie]

I don't normally start threads since I don't usually have time to follow up on them, but something's been percolating in my brain that I wanted to get some thoughts on.

Everybody's been talking about how the addition of both McCaffrey and Samuel will change our offense.  Much of the talk has been about how the scheme will change, how much they'll be used in the pass game, how explosive they are, etc.  Well, to me, the forgotten man in all this excitement over our offensive evolution is JStew.  So, I've been thinking about how the addition of these explosive playmakers will effect Stewart's production this year.  

The more I think about it, the more I believe he may just have a monster year.  For pretty much forever, he's had to run into a stacked front game after game.  Teams haven't had to worry about anything on the outside, and even with Smitty, we had so few true offensive weapons that they could still stack the box.  So whenever he ran, it was literally like running into a wall with no openings.  Most of what he got, he got through brute force and his ability to break tackles.  

Now, with the addition of McCaffrey and Samuel, not to mention Olsen and KB still being significant threats, we will be able to spread teams out...keep them from clogging the middle.  Instead of putting a Safety in the box, they will now have to dedicate him to protecting against the big play (and with CMC, Samuel, Olsen, and KB, it can come from anywhere).  What this means is that for the first time in many seasons, Stewart should see some real holes and a little daylight when he gets the handoff.  And despite his age, he is still a powerful runner that very few guys can stop by simply trying to grab him...or by themselves.  As a result, I expect he will likely have far more big runs than we have seen in the last few seasons.  

IMO, we have the potential to be a truly versatile offense.  We have the ability to go power on defenses and just bully them into submission, but then we can switch gears and go all speed on them and run them ragged...all without changing personnel.  We're not just an offense with a lot of weapons, we are an offense built to perfectly counter anything you want to do on defense.  And I genuinely believe Jonathan Stewart will be the hammer that beats down defenses this year.

[Kevin Greene]

I think Stew's production will depend this coming year as it usually does.

How well his feet and ankles hold up. 

Not having to be the primary back should help.

[csx]

His production might go down but his effectiveness could go up. It could be very good for us. 

[GoobyPls]

Mccaffrey isn't gonna affect whether a defense stacks the box, IDK how they are gonna use Samuel.

[Daddy_Uncle]

I think Armah is going to be a beast blocking fools and open up a lot in the pass and run game. dude is a huge beast and extremely athletic

[csx]

17 minutes ago, Daddy_Uncle said:

I think Armah is going to be a beast blocking fools and open up a lot in the pass and run game. dude is a huge beast and extremely athletic

Man, I hope so. If he can also run a little and catch a td here and there like Tolbert did early that would be fantastic.

[lightsout]

30 minutes ago, GoobyPls said:

Mccaffrey isn't gonna affect whether a defense stacks the box, IDK how they are gonna use Samuel.

Uh, yeah he is. Picture this. We run KB wide left, Olsen on the line tight right, Samuel wide right. Shotgun with Stew on Cam's left and CMC on Cam's right. Sure, stack the box. Because you can't stack the box, cover the size of KB one on one, the speed of Samuel, the presence of Olsen, and the duel capability of Cam. You just can't. We already have Cam being handed enough control to be able to choose between three different play calls. Imagine what happens if Cam sees 8 in the box against this. Just motioning CMC out wide from that is an immediate "oh no" response from any defense.

McCaffrey is going to be THE reason you can't stack the box. Because there's not a linebacker in the league that is going to hang with him if they don't have depth already.

[GoobyPls]

2 hours ago, lightsout said:

Uh, yeah he is. Picture this. We run KB wide left, Olsen on the line tight right, Samuel wide right. Shotgun with Stew on Cam's left and CMC on Cam's right. Sure, stack the box. Because you can't stack the box, cover the size of KB one on one, the speed of Samuel, the presence of Olsen, and the duel capability of Cam. You just can't. We already have Cam being handed enough control to be able to choose between three different play calls. Imagine what happens if Cam sees 8 in the box against this. Just motioning CMC out wide from that is an immediate "oh no" response from any defense.

McCaffrey is going to be THE reason you can't stack the box. Because there's not a linebacker in the league that is going to hang with him if they don't have depth already.

Most teams play nickel and stack the box DB's who can definitely cover any RB in the league.

 

Also motioning Mccaffrey would give away the play, not only that but If you didn't notice last season, teams didn't need to stack the box to stop Stewart.

[lightsout]

Like Nickels who definitely cover Edelman? Cobb? Sproles?

And you're assuming motioning him gives away the play. Motion him to KBs side. Still have run strength with Stew away from them. Still have KB in single coverage most likely, still have Olsen and Samuel away from them to worry about. CMC is going to be a threat that will need to be accounted for no matter where he is.

Also, most teams do run nickel. Let them. Because Stew will eat all day on 6 man fronts. They can't walk the safety up without giving single coverage to either both receivers or one receiver and Olsen. It's classic "pick your poison" if we play it right.

Sent using the amazing CarolinaHuddle mobile app

[London Loves Luke]

If we get it right, jstew = Blount 2016

[ItsPantone278]

I'm expecting veteran play from jstew.  He shouldn't be expected to have a career year imo.  Dude can still ball tho.

[tiger7_88]

1 hour ago, GoobyPls said:

Most teams play nickel and stack the box DB's who can definitely cover any RB in the league.

 

Also motioning Mccaffrey would give away the play, not only that but If you didn't notice last season, teams didn't need to stack the box to stop Stewart.

Ummmm... motioning CMC wouldn't give away the offenses play at all, it would indicate the DEFENSES play.

And defenses, nickel or no, were stacking the box on the regular last year.

[Wa'ya]

5 hours ago, Daddy_Uncle said:

I think Armah is going to be a beast blocking fools and open up a lot in the pass and run game. dude is a huge beast and extremely athletic

Really I don't feel Carolina has had a true blocking back since Hoover. I think having Armah in the lineup with the WR's mentioned in other comments will be the difference. Having him there to block the second level is going to help Stewart and CMC big time. 

[L-TownCat]

3 hours ago, GoobyPls said:

Also motioning Mccaffrey would give away the play, not only that but If you didn't notice last season, teams didn't need to stack the box to stop Stewart.

You wouldn't motion CMC until you've diagnosed a mismatch with a backer.  

This will most usually happen in the no huddle.

Also, our offense has tons of motion.