The Carolina Panthers have apparently had enough of Kelvin Benjamin. A wild NFL trade deadline has come and gone, and the last bit of news that crossed the wire on Halloween sees Carolina’s top receiver changing addresses. The man who once caught the game-winning touchdown in the National Championship Game for Florida State is now shuffling off to Buffalo.
For familiarities’ sake, this trade makes a lot of sense at the surface. Benjamin is now reunited Sean McDermott, and he is immediately going to get a chance to step in and become a No. 1 wide receiver for a team in the middle of a legitimate playoff race.
The Bills tried to strike some gold in the offseason by bringing in Jordan Matthews from Philadelphia. Though Matthews is the top wide receiver on the team, he only has 15 receptions for 193 yards and a touchdown. Buffalo’s top receivers are Charles Clay and LeSean McCoy, and most of the damage for both men has come on short passes.
If the Bills are really going to go for it this year, they needed to give Tyrod Taylor a legitimate weapon. Taylor has never really shown the ability to put up big numbers, but his greatest successes have come with Sammy Watkins lined up on the outside.
Watkins, of course, was shipped off to Los Angeles just before the start of the season, leaving Buffalo with arguably the worst wide receiving corps in the NFL.
Benjamin probably won’t be able to be fast-tracked into the lineup this week considering the fact that the Bills play on Thursday night against the Jets, but a long week of prep ahead should see him ready to hit the field against New Orleans in two weeks.
We can’t say the move makes any sense for Carolina. The Panthers do have an up and coming receiver in Devin Funchess, but after letting Ted Ginn Jr. walk in free agency this year, there isn’t another legitimate option to plug in alongside the former Michigan man.
The haul that the Panthers received wasn’t all that impressive, and we can’t say that a man on a rookie contract is costing too much against the cap. Benjamin is due for a huge raise next season and would count $8.5 million against the cap if he was retained, but that’s really a bargain of a price for the team’s top receiver.
The bigger question is whether Cam Newton is going to survive this season at this point. He nearly won a Super Bowl without Benjamin two years ago, but Newton had Greg Olsen that season. Olsen is already facing a long rehab from an injury he suffered earlier in the campaign. The idea of Russell Shepard or Curtis Samuel stepping into the starting lineup alongside a still-unproven Funchess can’t make Newton all that happy.
These two teams actually met in Week 2 of the season. Benjamin had six receptions for 77 yards and was one of the few solid offensive weapons on the field.
