Washington offensive coordinator 'fired up' for Curtis Samuel: 'I think he's just scratching the surface'

Samuel previously played for Scott Turner with the Carolina Panthers

Curtis Samuel was one of the top free-agent wide receivers on the market this offseason. He'd spent his first four NFL seasons with the Carolina Panthers, but after the team paid Robby Anderson last offseason, they didn't necessarily have the resources to pay Samuel, with an extension looming for D.J. Moore. 

Coming off an age-24 season where he caught a career-high 77 passes for a career-high 851 yards and three touchdowns, while also adding a career-high 41 carries for a career-high 200 yards and two more scores, Samuel did what had to have seemed like the next-best thing to returning to the only NFL team he'd previously known: signed up with his old coaching staff in Washington. 

Ron Rivera was Samuel's head coach for the first three years of his NFL career, and is now the head coach of the Football Team. Scott Turner was the team's quarterbacks coach and later offensive coordinator, and he's now the coordinator under Rivera in Washington. The Football Team needed a No. 2 wideout behind Terry McLaurin, and that's where Samuel came in. 

Turner, for one, is extremely excited about the possibilities of utilizing Samuel's diverse skill set. 

"Yeah, I'm fired up, man. Curtis is one of my all-time favorite guys," Turner said. "You can do a lot of different things with him. He's only 24-years-old, I think he's just scratching the surface on what he's capable of."

With Ryan Fitzpatrick under center, McLaurin and Samuel on the outside, Antonio Gibson in the backfield, and Logan Thomas at tight end, Washington has a pretty intriguing corps of skill-position players. Combine that with one of the NFL's best defenses, and it's perhaps not surprising that the Football Team is being talked about as a potential playoff team, and a threat to repeat as NFC East champions -- perhaps even with a winning record this time.