Carolina Panthers Rumors: Cameron Artis-Payne to lead team in carries?

With star running back Jonathan Stewart out for today’s game against the New York Giants, the Carolina Panthers will turn to a three-man backfield of Fozzy Whittaker, Cameron Artis-Payne, and jack-of-all-trades fullback Mike Tolbert.

At 13-0, the Carolina Panthers are on pace to be remembered as one of the best teams in NFL history, irrelevant of whether or not you think they are the worst undefeated team ever. The Panthers are rolling, blowing out teams and taking pictures, and they are understandably big favorites against the New York Giants today.

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That said, the Giants, who are coming off of a Monday Night Football victory over the reeling Miami Dolphins, will try to test the Panthers running game without Jonathan Stewart. The man known as “J-Stew” is out this week with a foot injury, and his loss is no joke, considering that he has 242 carries this season and has never run for less than 50 yards in a game.

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Although most fantasy owners have been adding Fozzy Whittaker, the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport has just reported that while the former Cleveland Browns RB will indeed get the start, the Panthers would like “to get Cameron Artis-Payne going”. In fact, Rapoport tweets that the fifth-round rookie out of Auburn will get more carries than Whittaker, which is an interesting nugget to chew on for fantasy owners making last-minute lineup changes.

Artis-Payne ran for over 1,600 yards and 13 touchdowns in his final season in college as a centerpiece player in Auburn’s run-heavy offense, but he’s only earned 12 carries in four appearances for the Panthers this season. There haven’t been many carries to go around in Carolina’s backfield, as Stewart has ably handled workhorse duties for a second straight season, averaging 76.1 yards per game and 4.1 yards per carry in the process. And with Cam Newton grinding out so man yards and TDs of his own on the ground, the Panthers haven’t needed to turn to their fifth-round rookie or any other rusher, for that matter.

Mike Tolbert will figure to get involved, but it looks like the Panthers want to take advantage of this prime opportunity to see what their potential sleeper rookie can do for them. He’s averaged just 2.6 yards per carry this season in extremely limited duty, and Mike Shula and the Panthers know they can’t draw any conclusions from a player who hasn’t been given a chance yet.

Aug 28, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Carolina Panthers running back Cameron Artis-Payne (34) tries to get past New England Patriots strong safety Jordan Richards (37) during the second half at Bank of America Stadium. New England wins 17-16 over the Panthers. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

The Giants run defense is exactly in the middle of the pack with 4.1 yards per carry allowed, so this is an excellent barometer for the Panthers to measure Artis-Payne. A pure rusher with limited third-down ability, Artis-Payne makes sense as the Panthers primary ball-carrier with Whittaker taking on a more well-rounded role, so we could see Whittaker lead the team in snaps as the starter with Artis-Payne taking home the brunt of the carries this afternoon.

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NFL.com compared Artis-Payne to former New England Patriots two-down plodder Jonas Gray, so it will be interesting to see if he looks like a Gray-type player today. Behind a quietly excellent Panthers offensive line, Artis-Payne has an opportunity to make an impression, though fantasy owners shouldn’t give him consideration unless they are desperate and in a deep league.

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