Samuel's problem is his injury. Yes, he is healed enough to play, but a hamstring injury for a guy that relies on speed will be an on-going issue until he can give it complete rest. I am sure he wants to play and the Panthers want him to play, so there is no complete rest coming until the season is over with or, God forbid, he re-injures it and is put on IR. As it is, he is operating at somewhere around 85-90%, trying to make sure it doesn't go out before the end of the year.
Also, don't forget he is still learning. He missed all of training camp. Just like it took Cam 3 weeks to get going, it is taking Samuel time. And Cam knew the offense. Samuel is having to learn the offense, battle for playing time (remember starters get the majority of snaps in practice) and worry about re-injuring his hamstring all at the same time.
I was worried about the Samuel pick when it occurred. However, I am not ready to write him off by any means as the injury has slowed the progress we should see from him. As has been mentioned, it took Funchess 3 years and he was healthy. I think given time, Samuel can do great things, it just may not be this year.
