Player Spotlight & Fantasy Outlook - CJ Anderson

C.J. Anderson Running Back #20

Carolina Panthers | 

Height: 5-8   Weight: 224   Age: 27

Born: 2/10/1991 Richmond, CA

College: California

Experience: 6th season

High School: Bethel HS [Vallejo, CA]

The Perception:

It’s always intriguing to discuss a player that has seen good levels of success in his career while entering the league as an undrafted free agent. When the Denver Broncos took a shot on the former California product, expectations were obviously lower than that of a drafted player, but Anderson continued to make noise showing his worth from season to season. While Anderson began his career on the sidelines patiently waiting in a reserve role behind the likes of Knowshon Moreno and Montee Ball, the 2014 campaign allowed for opportunity and Anderson literally ran away with the starting role. During the course of the net four seasons in Denver, CJ Anderson found ways to be quite productive even in a pass happy offense lead by the great Peyton Manning.

It’s quite clear Anderson doesn’t receive national attention for the work he’s accomplished and perhaps rightfully so. Anderson doesn’t scream star potential but rather a hardnosed gut punching style with deceptive speed on straight line runs. The interesting aspects on Anderson game once Manning retired from the NFL, was how the Broncos used the 220+ pound running back. When you fast forward to the 2017 season, the Broncos possessed no threat of a viable pass attack leaning on Anderson to the tune of a career high 245 carries - 66 more than his previous career high back in 2014. The reason this stat is important moving forward, is it proved Anderson could handle a workload resembling a full time three down back, while playing all 16 games removing the perception that injuries were a common occurrence. It became clear after the 2017 season; Anderson had contractually priced himself out of Denver thus moving his talents to Carolina to conceivably become a heavy contributor for the Panthers.

To be fair, we have never been a large supporter of Anderson during his Bronco tenure admittedly subscribing to the overall perception that he was in fact just an average running back. With that said, we have found great appeal in his decision to join the Panthers to appropriately change our opinion on the matter. There is a clear role to be had in this Panthers offense to support a runner of his style, one that resembles the likes of a younger Jonathan Stewart who recently departed for New York. The general consensus regarding the potential of Anderson for the upcoming season has been somewhat lukewarm, but we are definitely buying what Carolina is selling, showing a clear vision for Anderson to become a steady contributor this season and beyond.    

The Reality:

Looking back at what Anderson has been able to accomplish in his short career is moderately steady, rather than exemplary, but certainly has creatable pieces on his resume to find his niche with Cam Newton and this offense. Of the five completed seasons in the NFL, Anderson has only been able to muster one 1000 yard campaign, with two others topping out over 700 & 800 yards respectively. While those totals can look somewhat mediocre for a starting running back, the deception rests in the amount of work Anderson was given. Aside from last season, Anderson never reached the 200 carry mark while seeing a very favorable 4.7 yards per carry in those 2014 & 2015 seasons - highlighting a far better picture than just showing his total yardage. Furthermore, when reviewing the skillset Anderson possesses, it difficult to not feel encouraged as his blocking ability is clearly above average and he does truthfully house a receiving threat to his overall game. Over the course of five seasons, CJ was able to create a healthy 103 receptions for 859 yards adding 4 touchdowns in the process. The more we dive into Anderson’s tape, the more we see positives in a Panthers uniform.

One aspect that should be accounted for when discussing Anderson in the Carolina backfield is - how will carries be split with the Panthers dynamic playmaker Christian McCaffrey? Early reports from camp have Head Coach Ron Rivera suggesting 200 rushing attempts isn’t out of the realm of possibilities for his second year running back, we call foul an reject this assessment as pure misdirection. There’s absolutely no question McCaffrey is a special player that garners incredible talent, but proving difficult to run in between the tackles was evident in his rookie season, and there’s been little to confirm that would change drastically this season. While Christian will have the lead role in terms of scheme situations to produce for the Panthers, we envision a situation where both backs are used in a similar fashion like the New Orleans Saints use Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram. In no way are we implying Anderson is comparable to Mark Ingram, but rather the usage and roles specific to this offense should resemble an approach that was greatly successful by the Saints a season ago.       

The Outlook:

As we mentioned, CJ Anderson doesn’t fly off the game film as a running back the NFL will be talking about on Monday’s after Sunday contests. However, the skillset he possesses provides a massive uptick for the Panthers offense to once again form a one-two punch that opposing teams will fear. It wasn’t long ago when Carolina employed a backfield tandem appropriately nicknamed ‘thunder and lightning’ with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, perhaps there will be the second coming of that instance, we certainly feel like it’s a match made in heaven. One impressive statistic which we were forced to review further when discussing with our colleagues, was the amount of success Anderson achieved with limited carries in specific contests. During the course of the 2017 season, Anderson had six contests where he saw ten or fewer carries and still managed to solidify his first 1000 yard season. If you actually sit back and think about how impressive that is, essentially Anderson wasn’t used in those six games leaving him to create all of his production in only ten contests, rather remarkable. The outlook for CJ in Carolina has us at ADF licking our chops for what the potential has in store.

From the fantasy football perspective, CJ Anderson was rather productive for a player that had no viable pass game to assist in opening lanes for the Broncos runners. Anderson still managed to generate a very healthy 175.1 fantasy points in PPR (Point Per Reception) formats, giving him a decent 10.9 points per game. The issue which made fantasy owners irate in starting Anderson last season was the lack of production in those six contests we mentioned above. The lack of consistency is what led to an uneven perception of Anderson as we enter the fantasy draft season. In our opinion, CJ Anderson is being undervalued, currently holding an ADP (Average Draft Position) sitting at 106, which would allow fantasy managers to select the running back in the eighth or ninth round. The value meter is off the charts for a back that could produce solid numbers for the Panthers this season. Teamed with Cam Newton’s read option, and absolutely becoming the preferred candidate on goal line situations, Anderson should over produce showing that incredible value from draft day. It’s not out of the question to witness Anderson garner stats hovering around 750-1000 rushing yards and 10-15 touchdowns on the season. Let others overlook CJ this season while you ride into the sunset of a championship with CJ Anderson on your roster.