Panthers Beat: Greg Olsen 'most valuable piece' in passing game

Much has been made of the Panthers losing wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin for the season with a torn ACL.

A bigger loss would be TE Greg Olsen.

According to ESPN Stats and Information, receivers and tight ends made up 87 percent of Carolina’s total targets last season. That was the third-highest rate in the NFL even though the Panthers had only six games where individual receivers and tight ends were targeted 10 times in a game in 2014.

But if you take the tight ends out of the equation, specifically Olsen, the ranking falls to 17th.

In other words, Olsen is the most valuable piece of the Carolina passing game.

Fantasy Impact: 

Olsen has been lining up all over the field for the Panthers in camp the story said. Since 2011, when Newton was the top pick of the draft, Olsen has been targeted 415 times. That’s the third-most of any tight end behind Jimmy Graham (548) and Jason Witten (457). Olsen has led Carolina in receptions the past two seasons, including a career-high 84 catches for 1,008 yards last season, the story added. We rank Olsen third among our TEs so we certainly see his value. And it could go up with the loss of Benjamin.

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