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Curtis Samuel made his move to Washington prior to the 2021 season, but he spent most of that season battling injuries and we really didn't get to see much of him. It was bad enough that many had completely written him off as even a usable fantasy asset heading into the 2022 season, particularly after the Commanders used a mid-first-round draft pick on Jahan Dotson. Dotson himself suffered an early-season injury as a rookie, which ended up allowing Samuel to remain relevant throughout the first half of the season. In fact, through the team's first five weeks, he had actually out-scored both Dotson and Terry McLaurin and was looking like the potential steal of the fantasy season. Unfortunately, the ride didn't last much longer than that and Samuel eventually slid back into fantasy irrelevancy in the second half of the season, much of which corresponded with Dotson's return to the field.
Samuel's chances of ever being a true difference-maker in fantasy are very low at this point, especially when he's on a team with multiple pass-catchers who are simply better at making big plays. However, he plays the slot in an offense that always manages to perform better than their personnel seems like it should. He's an impressive runner with the ball in his hands which is why both the Panthers and Commanders have opted to give him carries out of the backfield in most games. He doesn't often see more than five carries in any one game, but he's scored six rushing touchdowns on just 114 carries while averaging nearly six yards per carry throughout his career, so even a few carries here and there can sometimes result in a nice bonus for fantasy managers.
One thing that's flying a bit under the radar in Washington is that while Antonio Gibson is the most likely player to see an increased pass-catching role out of the backfield after J.D. McKissic's departure, there's a non-zero chance that Samuel ends up eating into that. Samuel actually played running back in college at Ohio State and while his skill set didn't project for him to play that position in the NFL, his transition to wide receiver as a pro has resulted in him being a player who catches passes closer to the line of scrimmage than most. This allows him to get the ball and then make smaller players in the secondary miss on tackles. Again, Samuel taking over the McKissic role is not the most likely outcome, but it's one that we should be aware of during draft season because Samuel is being drafted very late and he possesses some interesting upside if he ends up being a bigger focal point in the Washington offense here in 2023.
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