Captain Munnerlyn took one glance at the Carolina Panthers wide receivers’ 40-yard times and couldn’t believe what he saw.

The veteran cornerback has never seen such a compilation of speed amassed at one position on a roster in any of his 10 NFL training camps.

”Oh man Tyrone Crawford Jersey , we got some fast receivers,” Munnerlyn said. ”I was like, `Wow, almost everyone runs a 4.4 or lower. That’s crazy.’ We have some speed on this team – and we probably needed it.”

That’s an understatement.

The Panthers offense stagnated last season as quarterback Cam Newton found himself with no deep threats after Ted Ginn Jr. left to sign with the New Orleans Saints as a free agent and youngsters Curtis Samuel and Damierre Byrd went down with injuries.

The trickledown effect of not having anyone to stretch the field, combined with three-time 1,000 yard receiving tight end Greg Olsen missing most of the season with a foot injury made Newton’s job last season extremely difficult. It also played havoc with the team’s running game as opposing defenses were able to walk an extra defender into the box. Carolina still finished 11-5 and earned a wild card despite finishing 19th in offense but lacked the firepower to make a run in the NFC playoffs.

General manager Marty Hurney wasn’t about to let that happen again.

The Panthers upgraded their speed at wide receiver by trading for Torrey Smith, signing free agent Jarius Wright and selecting the elusive D.J. Moore from Maryland in the first round of the NFL draft.

Smith has averaged 16.4 yards per catch during his seven NFL seasons with the Ravens, 49ers and, most recently, the Super Bowl champion Eagles. Wright joins the Panthers after six seasons with the Vikings, where he worked under new Panthers offensive coordinator Norv Turner and averaged 13.3 yards per catch. Moore caught 80 passes last season at Maryland and earned a reputation as a receiver who makes defenders miss and piles up yards after the catch.

With Samuel and Byrd coming back from injuries, Newton should have no shortage of options when it comes to stretching the field.

”I think we would probably have the fastest track team in the NFL for sure Kerry Hyder Jersey ,” Wright said. ”We got a 1A and a 1B team. That’s how fast our receiving corps is.”

Coach Ron Rivera is quietly optimistic.

He said the Panthers ”have some speed that we haven’t had in a while” at the wide receiver and defensive back positions.

”I think that is a good thing for us,” Rivera said. ”We can be a fast team.”

All of that is good news for Newton, who was limited to 22 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions in 2017 – two years after throwing 35 TD passes and 10 interceptions while earning league MVP honors and leading the Panthers to the Super Bowl.

The logical thinking is if defenses have to honor the deep threat it will allow Olsen and No. 1 receiver Devin Funchess to work underneath the coverage – and also free up rushing lanes for running back Christian McCaffrey and Newton, the team’s leading rusher last season.

Funchess may not be the fastest wide receiver on the roster, but he figures to play a huge role in the passing game.

He moved over to the ”X” position, or No. 1 receiver spot, during the middle of last season after the Panthers abruptly traded former No. 1 draft pick Kelvin Benjamin to the Buffalo Bills.

Funchess and Benjamin were considered similar possession-type receivers, and Hurney said at the time he wanted to get more speed on the field.

Funchess responded with some solid games in Benjamin’s absence, and finished the season with 63 receptions for 840 yards and eight touchdowns despite routinely seeing double coverage. He’ll have plenty of motivation to improve on that production given that he’ll become an unrestricted free agent after the season.

”I focus on strictly football and that part has nothing to do with me,” Funchess said. ”If (the Panthers) want to (get a deal done), they can. … I’m out here to play football, work with coach Turner Keelan Cole Jersey , work with the rest of the wide receivers, and talk a little trash to (Panthers linebacker) Thomas Davis.”

Wright likes what he sees so far from the wideouts.

”I think we have one of the best groups in the NFL,” Wright said. ”We have so many guys that bring a lot of different things to the game. But every guy can run out there. With so many playmakers, an experienced offensive coordinator and an MVP quarterback like Cam Newton our offense should be rolling.”

—


What the Detroit Tigers were hoping would be a very big week in Ohio is off to a very slow start.

With the surprising Tigers’ biggest series of the season coming up this weekend, they’re not getting much time to turn things around.

The Tigers brought a five-game winning streak and plenty of confidence into a week that’s beginning with two games against the last-place Reds in Cincinnati and ending with three against the first-place Indians in Cleveland. They started out the week 2 1/2 games behind the Indians in the AL Central, and were talking openly of leaving Cleveland with the division lead on Sunday night.

But they’re now four games back following the Indians’ home-field wins over the Chicago White Sox on successive nights and the Tigers’ 9-5 loss to the Reds on Tuesday night. The Tigers let their game get away from them in a hurry after Joey Votto hit a grand slam in the third inning off Detroit starter Matthew Boyd (4-5).

The Tigers put up the kind of late-inning outburst that often wins games — a five-run ninth inning, against Reds reliever Wandy Peralta — but the trouble was they were down 9-0 when the inning began. Reds starter Sal Romano (4-7) shut them out on four hits over seven innings and now has allowed only one run over 15 innings in his last two starts.

“This wasn’t a good game for us,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “The other guy was throwing the ball well. … It wasn’t one of our better nights. You walk a few people (six), give up a few hits and (have) some long innings, and there you have it.”

Now, the Tigers don’t have much time to bounce back as they face an afternoon game Wednesday in Great American Ball Park, with right-hander Michael Fulmer (3-5 Brad Nortman Jersey , 4.13 ERA) going up against the Reds’ best pitcher of late in Tyler Mahle (5-6, 3.96). The Reds right-hander has permitted only two earned runs over 16 1/3 innings in his last three starts.

“Detroit, you look at their record, they’re getting after it every night,” said Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman, whose team has won five of seven. “Ron Gardenhire’s got them playing hard and you’d better play the whole nine. They’re going to come after you.”

Neither pitcher in Wednesday’s game has faced the opposing team before.

Boyd hadn’t seen the Reds before, either, but Cincinnati made quick work of him, chasing him after getting five runs, six hits and three walks off him while he labored through four innings, throwing 80 pitches .

Some of the Reds’ low-average hitters did the most damage against Boyd and a Tigers bullpen that was almost flawless during the winning streak. Billy Hamilton, batting .203 Wes Horton Jersey , went 2-for-4 with a home run and Adam Duvall, batting .196, was 3-for-4. Tucker Barnhart also was 3-for-3 as the Reds collected 13 hits.

Detroit wasted a big night at the plate by leadoff hitter Leonys Martin, who went 3-for-3 with a double and walked twice while reaching base five times.

Mahle got off to a rough start this season, losing six of his first nine decisions, but he pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings against the Kansas City Royals in a 7-0 win last Wednesday and five shutout innings against the San Diego Padres on June 1. In between, he gave up two runs to the Rockies in five innings on June 7.

“It’s nice to put a couple (of no-run outings) close together like that,” Mahle told reporters after beating the Royals. “I was able to put some zeros up there and our team is always going to be able to score at some point.”

Fulmer is coming off a strong start, beating the Minnesota Twins 3-1 on Thursday while giving up only one run on five hits over seven innings. The win was Fulmer’s first at Comerica Park in nearly a year, or since July 15.

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