Cat Scratch Reader
The Carolina Panthers hosted the Cleveland Browns in Week 1 of the 2025 NFL Preseason. Unlike last year, the Panthers starters did actually see some live reps in the game, with the offense out there for two drives. Let’s take a closer look at how the players looked from a fantasy perspective.
Young only played two series in this game and looked pretty good while doing so. After knocking off some rust, he finished 4/6 for 58 yards with a touchdown. One of those incompletions was on a perfectly timed slant route that Tetairoa McMillan dropped in the endzone, so Bryce definitely seems ready to go. Obviously his actual fantasy points from this game are misleading since he only played a little under one quarter, but if we extrapolate his performance (ie multiply it by four because math is hard) he performed quite well netting around 25 fantasy points.
Chuba ran the ball three times for 10 yards, so it’s definitely tough to extrapolate his performance when he’ll likely see six or seven times the number of rushing attempts in an actual game. He was his normal Chuba self, running hard and punishing defenders who dared try to tackle him. He did get tripped up on his longest run of the night (which was six yards) as he burst through a hole. Had he kept his feet, he might have kept running all the way to the Hornets arena. Using our super complex mathematical algorithm of multiplying by four, Chuba would have ended the day with about four fantasy points.
With the team only running the ball 14 times in the entire game, neither starter got a mammoth amount of carries. Dowdle finished with three attempts for seven yards. He’s definitely a hard runner, but nothing really popped off the screen when he got the ball on the handoff. He did have a 20 yard reception on his only target, which was good to see. All told, Dowdle would have ended up with about 11 fantasy points on the day.
Anyone who doubted the Panthers taking McMillan eighth overall in April’s draft were put on notice in this game. McMillan made a beautiful sideline grab on a deep ball early in the game and was open for a touchdown pass that he unfortunately wasn’t ready for. One major adjustment for rookie wide receivers is their quarterbacks throwing with anticipation, and Bryce is one of the best in the business at that particular skill. As soon as T-Mac turned around, the ball hit him in the hands. He gave Bryce a thumbs up after the drop, showing a level of maturity to admit that he dropped a perfect touchdown pass. Despite the drop, McMillan still had two catches for 43 yards in his limited playing time. Had he played the whole game at that pace, he would have ended with about 17...
