Curtis Samuel- who is he really?

[Chardee MacDennis]

I urge all of you to spend 49 minutes watching this YouTube video. It will do more to help you form an opinion of this guy than any forum debate, draft article, etc out there. 

After watching this, tell me what you think.

From what I saw early in his career, most of his success came from plays where he lined up in the backfield with the QB. Whether it was a straight run up the middle, a toss to the outside, a read-option, a wheel route, a screen, a drag or slant coming from the backfield, his best success was when he matched up with a linebacker. Even a lot of the success he saw in the passing game was when he lined up in the slot, or motioned between the backfield/slot pre-snap.

It wasn't until later in his career at OSU that they began using him more as a WR, and even then a lot of end around plays, screens, etc that weren't vertical passes downfield. And even when he was acting as a vertical threat, it was off a really nice play action fake that Barrett and one of the many solid RBs made, and a safety got pulled up so he beat his man 1 on 1. He rarely matched up with a CB (from a good team) and beat his man with ease. Why would we expect him to do so against NFL level talent?

It's almost as if he prefers to be behind the LOS with the QB to survey the defense before the snap, so he can better utilize his vision and make smarter decisions behind his OL who are opening holes for him.

Hands weren't really the problem in college because Barrett never threw on target anyhow so he always had to reach or extend or come back to a ball, or back shoulder etc. You could see he almost wanted Barrett to overthrow him on deep routes because he'd rather catch up and run under the ball to snag it than have it thrown perfectly in place where all he had to do is bring it into his body.

Timing routes were good to him, which can only really be developed with multiple reps with the QB. Cam throws clean, mostly accurate balls at an accelerated pace, and Samuel doesn't know how to catch those cleanly as he's not used to seeing them.

Conclusion:

Curtis Samuel was drafted as a RB who has WR skills. Curtis Samuel should be the RB2 of this team, and the WR4. 

Between Samuel and CMC, there are enough snaps where they can be mixed in at RB and WR, and still have carries go to a power back playing as the RB3, and still have 3 other WRs (Funch, draft or FA, Byrd) and a TE involved in the pass game. 

Samuel is a Swiss army knife and should be used that way. Read option with Cam, tosses, reverses, wheels, drags, screens. Get him in space and matched up with LBs, and you've got something special.

Trot him out there as a WR2 or slot WR exclusively, and asking him to run slants, corners, posts, and be covered by opposing nickels and safeties, while attempting to snag bullet passes from Cam over the middle, and you are going to see him continue to struggle to develop and be a difference maker.

See further plays for more proof of this.

Here, he finds success on a play action fake against zone coverage. Nobody defending him one on one, he gets in space and Cam finds him for a big gain.

Here, another play action fake. This time he's covered but because of the fake he's able to beat his man deep, even with some safety help they can't get there fast enough. Problem is, Cam's throw is right on target and comes in hot. Curtis can't hold on.

Here, trick play end around picks up 30 yards because you got him the ball in space.

Finally, even on this one where he takes a big hit, it is a play action reverse that picks up 8 yards. 

That officially concludes my rant about using Samuel properly within a system, and where I think he should be within the roster construction. Of course he must remain healthy for any of this to matter. But it is not as if he has a history of injuries. The guy missed 1 game out of 3 college seasons due to a "nagging leg injury". I expect him to bounce back stronger next season, and be a bigger part of the offense. 

[beastson]

I think if he stayed healthy, he could have consistently moved the chains on 3rd downs. He has to work on catching the ball with his hands and not his body.

[Malt Liquor]

He has the potential to be lethal. He need to work on staying healthy.

[Panther49er]

Who knows who the fug he is at this point. Hopefully he stays healthy and the new OC uses him to his full potential. That’s all we can hope for right now. 

It’s a wait and see kind of thing, unfortunately.

[Hoenheim]

none of that is worth jack squat if he can't stay healthy. It seemed like he was injured off and on all offseason and regular season and then went out for good.

His #1 priority should be finding a way to playing a full healthy season imo

[brandon_87]

I was mad when we drafted Samuel since we had just drafted CMC, but it is what it is, hopefully Samuel can get healthy and show off some skills 

[LA_Panther]

We need to stop messing around and sign / draft legit receivers ... this micky mouse stuff hopefully stops with the new OC. 

[lightsout]

You guys saying he needs to stay healthy need to remember that he broke his friggin' ankle. It's not like he had a nagging injury that kept him sidelined all year. He broke a bone. Kinda hard to use that to fault him.

What he showed is that he can absolutely move the chains and make plays. All I need. He'll be fresh come training camp and at 100%. Watch the kid work, I'm telling you that he will surprise you. I just don't think he's going to be a career Panther. He's basically just CMC. One of them will end up moving on from here at some point. So we need to take advantage of the fact that we can have them both on the field with Funch and Olsen and terrify some teams. Scary proposition when you have to bracket either CMC, Funch, Olsen, or Samuel, because you can only choose one.

[Chardee MacDennis]

Yeah,  I feel like straining your calf/hamstring in the off-season, but returning for week 2 of the regular season and playing 9 games up until you abruptly break your foot in week 10, does not really point to "can't stay healthy". He played 9 games before breaking his foot on one play.

He was only targeted 26 times in those 9 games, but still 3 targets per game.

[ecu88]

Interesting refreshing take! 

[Manther]

I had and still have high hopes for Samuel.  Unfortunately, this season he did more damage than good.    I was thinking Cam, Olson, McCaffrey and Samuel were going to be our Brady, Gronk, Amendola and Edelman.    I believe it could have been except for injuries, and Shula will never be Belichek.

In the end, I hope he's motivated and knows how to avoid the hamstring issues going forward.  The new OC has the weapons already...I won't complain if we get a new receiver, but I think the defensive secondary is a higher priority.  Receivers aren't open because of scheme, not speed.

[CPF4LIFE]

KB- Wide receiver with a TIGHT end body

Funchess- played tight end in college moved to WR in nfl

Curtis samuel- Part time Rb and Wr in college. Fulltime receiver in nfl.

This team needed legit receivers for a longtime and despite the talent of these guys Gettleman made it more difficult than it had to be. Dont know wtf he was thinking when it came to this position. 

[CRA]

he basically is best suited to be CMC's backup. 

I mean even going back to the draft there is tons of talk about how we basically drafted 2 of the same dude. 

[MHS831]

About injuries--you all are very observant, he was injured a lot.  However, when you play hurt, it tends to make you more prone to injury.  Long story, but it is true.

I do not see much difference between CMC and CS.  I think they were planning on some variations using the two--matchup problems---but Norv will see the skill sets and use them effectively.  Funny, we have a Slot WR who was a college RB, a #1 WR who was a TE. 

2018 will be interesting,