Kelvin Benjamin is now a Buffalo Bill. It’s what former Carolina Panthers do these days... they go up north to the tundra and join the Bills, whether after being cut or traded, it is almost a certainty. We’re even opening another farm program in New York now that Dave Gettleman is there to take all our leftovers. But we’ve also seen a lot of salt from some former players about their time in Carolina. DeAngelo Williams was the first to get that ball rolling, and most recently it was Daryl Worley (before getting arrested). Well now it is Kelvin Benjamin with this super hot take:

Benjamin: “I didn’t want to be there no more. I just felt like they weren’t featuring me more. I mean, I was their No. 1 but I wasn’t getting my No. 1 targets, you know." — Mark Ludwiczak (@marklud12) June 14, 2018

It’s a laughably bad statement, for so many reasons. The main reason being that in his two full seasons of 2014 and 2016, Kelvin Benjamin was targeted 263 times.

2014: 145 targets, 73 receptions, 1008 yards, 9 TDs, 50.3% catch rate

2016: 118 targets, 63 receptions, 941 yards, 7 TDs, 53.4% catch rate

Those target numbers are well in line with all but the absolute best WR1s in the league. In fact, they are almost identical to A.J. Green in volume, but not nearly close in catch percentage. In 2017 in his eight games with Carolina, he was targeted 51 times for 32 receptions, a much improved catch rate of 62%, but you could tell that Cam was more selective with his deliveries, not opting to just chuck it up to a fully covered Kelvin Benjamin when in doubt.

Kelvin Benjamin’s problem always has been, and likely always will be, his inability to create separation. Sometimes he would have the size and strength to muscle away a contested catch, but far more often, he did not. Receivers who get a clean look at catching a football have a much higher catch rate.. the aforementioned Green is around a 60% career mark, and guys like Julio Jones and Odell Beckham Jr. turn in around 65%.

Kelvin Benjamin was targeted plenty in Carolina, and his inability to consistently catch the football on all his highly contested targets is why this mic drop stat exists...

The Panthers were 19-22-1 with Kelvin Benjamin and 23-3 without him, including a 15-1 season that ended in a Super Bowl appearance. #justsaying — Cat Scratch Reader (@CatScratchReadr) June 15, 2018

Give me guys like Devin Funchess that are constantly pushing themselves to get better and earn their targets than guys like Kelvin Benjamin, who just want to go to teams where they are the only fish in the pond to catch the worms.

What do you think Panthers fans?