Question
It’s looking like the Panthers could have new starters at every offensive skill position. They drafted Bryce Young and Jonathan Mingo, and they signed Miles Sanders, DJ Chark, Adam Thielen and Hayden Hurst. In this vein, in the 32-team era, what are the only two teams that have had five new skill-position players start in over half of their teams’ games? Both of these teams, like Carolina, selected a quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
Answer
This was done by the 2018 Cleveland Browns (Mayfield, Chubb, Landry, Darren Fells and Jarvis Landry). It was also done by the 2012 Colts (Luck, V.Ballard, Fleener, D.Allen, D.Avery). The Colts were different in that they had two tight ends but only one wide receiver. I believe the only other teams post-merger would be the 1994 Falcons (George, Heyward, Sanders, Mathis, Manuel). Atlanta was a run-and-shoot team, so understandable it would have three wide receivers but no tight end. And the 1995 Arizona Cardinals (Krieg, Sanders, R.Moore, Gaines, O.McBride) with no running back but two largely forgotten blocking tight ends.