Fantasy football implications of Robby Anderson joining the Panthers

Robby Anderson signed with the Panthers, and that will impact the fantasy prospects of their offensive players greatly — but for good or ill? We’ll take a look at the Panthers fantasy players for the 2020 season.

Anderson has shown great ability at times, but also has been inconsistent. His offense and quarterback play has also been inconsistent, which makes it easier to see him thriving under new management.

The Panthers are also under new management, as they’ve jettisoned their coach and quarterback, giving former Baylor coach Matt Rhule the head coaching job in Ron Rivers’s place and signing Teddy Bridgewater while releasing Cam Newton. Anderson will join a new offense in 2020 but so will all the Panthers players.

Robby Anderson

The good news for Anderson is that he played with Rhule at Temple but the bad news is that there are already some strong offensive players in the Panthers receiving game, namely Christian McCaffrey and D.J. Moore. Rhule’s offense is adaptable, but he does like to get receivers in the running game at times with RPOs, but Moore and Curtis Samuel are strong prospects for those reps.

Anderson will also benefit from offensive coordinator Joe Brady joining the Panthers. Brady’s offense under Joe Burrow at LSU was amazing in its efficiency and bringing Rhule’s ability to adjust schemes together with Brady’s ability to get his playmaker’s open could be dangerous.

The Panthers also lost all-everything linebacker Luke Keuchly to retirement and should have trouble defensively to start Rhule’s tenure. With a weak defense and plenty of offensive playmakers on the team, we likely will see more passing than Rhule would like due to deficits.

Anderson isn’t going to be the No. 1 or even 2 target in Carolina, so we can’t expect big fantasy numbers unfortunately, but he is set up in an offense that, if they can get on the same page early in Rhule’s tenure, they could put up good fantasy points and Anderson would see a bump for a third target on the team.

Christian McCaffrey

Anderson isn’t only a deep threat, but that’s where he is at his best, which should keep him from taking too many targets away from McCaffrey. But, having Moore and Anderson with Samuel, Ian Thomas and whoever wins time between newly signed Seth Roberts, Keith Kirkwood and Pharoh Cooper, should help Teddy Bridgewater and the offense be consistent enough to give McCaffrey more work in the red zone in 2020.

D.J. Moore, Curtis Samuel

There have been some rumors going around that Samuel could be traded off due to Anderson coming on board along with the Cooper, Roberts and Kirkwood, but the only report from a knowledgeable source is The Athletic’s Joe Person saying they aren’t shopping Samuel.

I could see Samuel not being too happy about getting bumped by Anderson, whose contract and ability make him the no-doubt starter across from Moore, but that’s the NFL and Samuel doesn’t have the clout to push for a trade even if he wanted to.

Moore had a breakout 2019 with a poor quarterback throwing his way and showed he needs to remain the No. 1 target in the receiving group. Anderson’s presence can only help the offense and him find more space, especially underneath, where he can excel after the catch.