Curtis Samuel (WR, CAR) - Week 9 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED: 20% of Leagues

ANALYSIS: Finally, we can all agree Curtis Samuel is a real thing, folks. The Panthers QB-WR pair of Teddy Bridgewater and Robby Anderson (interestingly two additions to the team this season) clicked instantly in Carolina's offense, while Samuel had a rather slow start to the year - not scoring even 10 PPR points in any of the first four games of the season. That changed in Week 5 and Samuel has looked better each passing weekend.

Truth be told, Samuel's usage through the first four weeks of the season was a little puzzling. Samuel logged more than 4 targets only in Week 1, and rushed the ball 11 times compared to his 14 receptions even though he couldn't get past 7 yards on the ground more than once.

With Christian McCaffrey out and Mike Davis taking on RB1 duties, his rushing touches have not changed that much, not surpassing 4 carries in any game yet through Week 8. But he has posted two 23- and 28-yard rushing outings in the last three games, and scored back-to-back touchdowns on the ground.

The most encouraging thing coming from Samuel, though, is his improvement in pass plays. He has been targeted 5+ times three games in a row, and he's caught 5, 6, and 4 of his targets in that span for a combined 115 yards. Samuel also had his first receiving TD of the season last TNF when he finished with a 5 tgt/4 rec/31 yds/1 TD line, scoring a season-high 21.4 PPR points. It's been three weeks in which he's elevated his fantasy scores, going from 11.4 to 17.3 to 21.4.

Robby Anderson keeps playing more snaps and will retain the WR1 role, but Samuel's time is finally here. The Panthers still have four games ahead before they go on a bye, and two of those (Weeks 11 and 12) come against bottom-seven defenses against fantasy WRs. Make sure to get Samuel and consider him a great WR3/Flex play for the next couple of weeks with upside to getting WR1/WR2 scores in those two spot matchups.

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