Former Ohio State receiver injured vs. New Orleans Saints

Former Ohio State wide receiver Curtis Samuel left the Washington-New Orleans game today with a groin injury. He re-injured the groin that had been bothering him most of the summer and fall camp.

Check out the tweet from Dov Kleiman.

#WFT WR Curtis Samuel is OUT for the rest of the game, groin injury

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 10, 2021

Washington would go on to lose the game to New Orleans, 33-22.

If Samuel is forced to miss more time, Washington will look to players such as veteran Adam Humphries, DeAndre Carter, and others to pick up the slack.

Groin injuries have a tendency to be some of the most nagging injuries in football. Samuel has spent most of his 2021 season sidelined for the Washington Football Team tending to his groin issue. They tried to work him back slowly, but the injury has continued to linger.

Before today’s game against the Saints, WFT head coach Ron Rivera said he thought the receiver was trending in the right direction. “I think he’s trending in the right way,” Rivera said.

Curtis Samuel career path

Samuel played his college ball at Ohio State for current Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer. With the Buckeyes, he was used in both the run and pass game.

His final year at Ohio State was his most productive, both rushing and receiving. He had 97 rushes for 771 yards, eight touchdowns and averaged 7.9 yards per rush. Through the air, he has 74 catches for 865 yards, seven touchdowns, with an average of 11.7 yards per catch. He went on to finish his Ohio State career with 2,500-plus all-purpose yards and 24 touchdowns.

Samuel was taken by the Carolina Panthers with the 40th overall pick in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. The 6-foot-0, multi-faceted player, Samuel was used primarily as a receiver by the Carolina Panthers. When he was drafted by the Panthers, they already had two running backs featured in their backfield in Jonathan Stewart and Christian McCaffrey. McCaffery is another all-purpose offensive weapon the Panthers selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

While he was often targeted on the field, he did not have very many yards receiving to show for it. His best year with the Panthers was his final in 2020 with Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback.

Samuel was targeted 97 times and caught 77 of those attempts for 851 yards and three receiving touchdowns. With McCaffrey out for most of 2020, he spent some time in the backfield as well.

The former Buckeyes tailback/wide receiver had 41 rushing attempts for 200 yards, 2 touchdowns, and an average of 4.9 yards per rush.

As a high school prospect, Samuel was rated as four-stars and chose Ohio State over Alabama, Clemson, and others.

On3’s Justin Rudolph also contributed to this report.