The Panthers held their rookie minicamp this weekend and that gave them their first chance to see Christian McCaffrey and Curtis Samuel on the field since drafting them in the first two rounds.
It also gave them a chance to do some more thinking about how to integrate the two college stars into an offense that was short on explosiveness last season. Offensive coordinator Mike Shula didn’t get into too much detail about how the team plans to use the new arrivals to remedy that shortcoming, but made it clear that is exactly what the plan is for the coming season.
“Anytime you get guys that are talented and have speed and are instinctive and good guys with the ball in their hands and make people miss and find ways to make yards and get the ball in the end zone, that’s going to help your quarterback,” Shula said, via the Charlotte Observer. “We’ve got guys in place now. We’re just going to add these guys and hopefully that’ll make us more dangerous. ... You can’t coach speed. These guys have really good instincts and that’s going to help any quarterback.”
The Panthers will have to wait a bit longer to see the rookies on the field with the quarterback they are expected to help because Cam Newton will miss OTAs after having shoulder surgery, but they’ll likely have a better idea about how everything fits together when it is time to reintroduce Newton to the mix.