What the Panthers could really use out of Sam Darnold would be some touchdown passes. Two years in a row they’ve ranked above-average in passing, but with only 17 and 16 touchdowns. They need to put more of those in the end zone.
DJ Moore (pictured), Robby Anderson and Curtis Samuel all caught a ton of passes last year, but very few of them ended up in touchdowns.
Usually when a receiver goes over 1,000 yards, there is also going to be a healthy share of touchdowns. But in each of the last two years, Carolina has had two players who’ve finished with over 1,000 receiving yards, but without catching at least 5 TDs.
In the last five years, this has happened only 11 times, and Carolina has over a third of those players.
Will Darnold be any better in that regard than Bridgewater? Time will tell. Darnold was never a great touchdown thrower in his three years with the Jets.
| TOUCHDOWN-AVERSE 1,000-YARD RECEIVERS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Rec | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 2017 | Julio Jones, Atl. | 88 | 1,444 | 16.4 | 3 |
| 2017 | Adam Thielen, Min. | 91 | 1,276 | 14.0 | 4 |
| 2020 | DJ Moore, Car. | 66 | 1,193 | 18.1 | 4 |
| 2019 | DJ Moore, Car. | 87 | 1,175 | 13.5 | 4 |
| 2019 | Darren Waller, Oak. | 90 | 1,145 | 12.7 | 3 |
| 2019 | Robert Woods, LAR | 90 | 1,134 | 12.6 | 2 |
| 2020 | Terry McLaurin, Was. | 87 | 1,118 | 12.9 | 4 |
| 2020 | Robby Anderson, Car. | 95 | 1,096 | 11.5 | 3 |
| 2019 | Odell Beckham, Cle. | 74 | 1,035 | 14.0 | 4 |
| 2019 | Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 116 | 1,005 | 8.7 | 4 |
| 2019 | Mike Williams, LAC | 49 | 1,001 | 20.4 | 2 |
—Ian Allan