The Carolina Panthers are coming off of a victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1 last week, but it wasn’t pretty. Cam Newton and the offense looked poor to say the least and are in need of another receiver to step up this week against an improved opponent in the Houston Texans. Devin Funchess is the guy that needs to step up and he must find a way to do so in order for the Panthers to have a chance at improving to 2-0.
Funchess is a very big target and is without question the number one receiver for the Panthers if he can figure things out and play to his full potential.
At 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, Funchess is a former tight end that has developed into a very good wide receiver. He isn’t the fastest player, but he can use his size to take the big step forward that Carolina needs from him against Houston. The Texans don’t have a defensive back that can stick with Funchess by himself, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t cover him.
Coming off of a tough game in Week 1, the 21-year-old receiver out of Michigan has learned some valuable lessons. He simply needed to figure out the speed of the NFL game and figure out what he needed to prepare for this week.
It will be very interesting to see what ends up happening over the next couple of weeks. This week is key for him to take a big step forward and become an impact player for the Panthers. Nothing is holding him back physically and he doesn’t have any excuses from an experience standpoint either.
Patience is going to be a virtue for the Panthers when it comes to Funchess and developing him for the future. It isn’t going to be easy for him to adjust to the speed of the NFL game, especially as a number one target after the injury to Kelvin Benjamin. He would have been an excellent number two target for the Panthers, but that isn’t the case anymore.
Newton isn’t the best quarterback in the NFL either, which doesn’t make things easier for Funchess.
There is no question that he is capable of taking the step forward this week that the Panthers need him to. His natural talent is unquestioned and there are plenty of areas for him to make an impact against the Texans. Newton simply needs his rookie receiver to be a consistent security blanket with his size and to make a big play or two throughout the course of the game.
Expect to see Funchess have a much more productive game than the one catch for nine yards that he had in his NFL debut. Carolina can’t afford to have offensive struggles like they did last week and fans shouldn’t expect to see the same issue in Week 2.
