CHARLOTTE - This week, NFL.com analyst and Hall of Famer Gil Brandt listed his most exciting new passer-receiver combos for the 2021 season.
With Sam Darnold coming to Carolina to throw to a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in Robby Anderson and DJ Moore, it was no surprise that the Panthers were a top-five selection in this category.
According to Brandt:
Robby Anderson will ease new quarterback Sam Darnold's transition to Carolina, given that Anderson was a favored target of Darnold's in 2018 and '19, when both players were with the Jets. And you couldn't ask for a better pass-catching option coming out of the backfield than a newly healthy Christian McCaffrey, who twice set a single-season record for receptions by a running back (in 2018 and again in 2019) before losing much of 2020 to injury. But I really like Darnold's chances to build a rapport with DJ Moore, who is coming off a second straight 1,000-yard season. Moore figures to be a key deep threat for Darnold, given that he ranked third in the NFL in yards on deep targets (440) in 2020, finishing third in yards per deep target (18.3) and catch rate above expectation on deep targets (+16.9%) among those with 20-plus such targets, per Next Gen Stats.
