The Panthers have one of the league’s only quarterback competitions this summer and plan to draw it out a bit longer. Carolina doesn’t plan on making what head coach Matt Rhule calls a “major decision” on any position battles until after the team’s second preseason game on August 19, according to David Newton of ESPN. This, of course, includes the starting quarterback battle between incumbent Sam Darnold and trade acquisition Baker Mayfield. 
Darnold’s debut season in Carolina was the worst of his career according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). PFF has consistently graded Darnold among the worst NFL quarterbacks, ranking him 29th, 31st, and 35th in his first three seasons in New York. He continued his downward trajectory ranking as the 36th out of 37 ranked quarterbacks last year, finishing only over Ben Roethlisberger.
Mayfield, on the other hand, graded out very poorly in 2021 (30th out of 37), but has seen success in his healthier seasons in Cleveland, even taking them to the playoffs and earning their first postseason win since the 1994 NFL season in 2020. His career has been a rollercoaster celebrating the ups of his 2018 and 2020 seasons while stomaching the downs of his 2019 and 2021 seasons. Still, that’s two more impressive seasons than his competitor has seen in the NFL and should give him an initial edge.
Mayfield is the expected leader in the race right now based on that past success. The two have split reps on first and second team down the middle this summer, giving both a chance to work with the ones. At some point, though, the Panthers staff is going to want to give somebody more first team reps in preparation to be the Panthers’ starting quarterback for the regular season. Rhule seems to imply that a decision could ultimately be pushed even closer to the start of the season.
“I’m not putting a timetable on the quarterback position until after we get back from Patriots week,” Rhule explained after today’s scrimmage. “The Patriots week is a true litmus test for us. That will really show us where guys are.”
In addition to the QB1 battle, there are a couple of other positions that have battles to be decided after the team’s time in Foxborough. Wide receiver Terrace Marshall is expected to take a big step in his second season and push Robby Anderson for the WR2 spot behind D.J. Moore. The return of cornerback Jaycee Horn presents a logjam atop the depth chart of the position. The Panthers will have to decide if they like Horn or last year’s trade acquisition C.J. Henderson on the outside. If they choose Horn, Henderson will have to compete with Keith Taylor in the slot. In they choose Henderson on the outside, Horn will likely man the slot.
It will be interesting to see how Carolina approaches the third preseason game. The last game of the preseason is traditionally a game full of backups and roster bubble guys as the starters tend to rest in order to prevent injury. If the Panthers are waiting until that game to make crucial depth chart decisions, they may be forced to give the finalized first string some reps together in their last game action before the regular season. Regardless, it sounds like Panthers fans will have to wait until late August to know exactly what the Panthers’ depth chart will look like.
This is a competition in name only.
0.0000000001% chance Darnold starts this season. That only happens if Baker gets injured.
I wish you could provide us with more precise odds.
He needs to play better than he did last year. I know injuries played a factor but he also made some bad decisions. His shoulder was not the reason. I’d like to see him do good.I like Baker but I think he’s just an average quarterback
He was hurt…..all that needs to be said. 2020 he was a top 10 qb. Of course you think he’s average….you’re biased towards mr happy ending.
Not a huge fan of Baker but I will say the man does have heart and will definitely give it his all day in, day out, but will that be enough ? Depends on what’s around him and if Cleveland is any indication with all that talent they had, probably not…
Not a single mention of Matt Corral in this article, yet he’s more likely to end up number two on the depth chart by the time training camp is done.
I don’t know. Corral has a cheap rookie deal and is coming from a read option college offense. Given the amount of time that Corral will likely need to adjust to an NFL style offense, let alone the default adjustment of rookies to NFL speed, I doubt that this QB competition will leave him with enough quality reps to actually end up better to come in cold than Darnold or Mayfield.
I just don’t see any reason for Carolina to push him higher than an experienced former starter in either Mayfield or Darnold, even considering the worst of either’s respective play.
I respect your logic. It’s just that Darnold has been so consistently mediocre, I don’t want to see him in a Panther uniform anymore. I know is an unrealistic hope. Perhaps with an improved offensive line, things will be better.
The thing is, you’d rather your backup be predictably mediocre than a complete surprise. Sure, Darnold’s ceiling is probably lower, but the floor is ostensibly higher due to a greater amount of NFL experience and more familiarity with Carolina’s offense
Rhule is coaching for his job. And his chances of retaining his job while starting Darnold aren’t too good.
Maybe the plan is to give Darnold reps, hope he looks ok, and then offer him to the first team that has a QB1 injury in camp.
Otherwise, anything that prevents Baker from learning the offense is nuts.
Darnold has a 18.3 million dollar guaranteed contract. If you’re acquiring Darnold because you think he may get you to the playoffs, your GM should be fired
Any move like that would have be preceded by a major injury or some similar move. Garappolo is obviously the best remaining option that we know is available, and he will likely be the first guy moved if something like this happens. After him, it’s sort of a wasteland. The Saints have quality backup/spot starters in either Dalton or Winston, if either end up available. The Ravens have Huntley. And of course the Eagles have Minshew, who’s likely the best option, but maybe is not available. Seattle may have either Smith or Lock in some realm of possibility available.
Where does Darnold slot in there? Likely towards the end, but maybe not to some teams. It’s going to more be a question of who’s available when someone goes down than it is who is good enough.
I believe that Jimmy G is going to be cut before week 1 , but 9ers want to give him as little time with new team as possible…
unless they plan on using him
Baker Mayfield took the Browns to the playoffs and beat the Division Rival Steelers in the Wild Card round.
This year the Browns are paying Mayfield $10.5 million dollars to not play for the team. The Browns are also paying Watson a yet to be determined amount of money to not play for them with a PR nightmare, because they think he may get the Browns to the playoffs.
If you are going to attack a GM?
Browns were 20-15 last 2 seasons so the GM is better than average.
“Browns were 20-15 last 2 seasons”
With a playoff win against a division rival, and now that GM is paying the QB to play for another team. Please tell us another NFL team that can claim those accolades since 2020.
Because Mayfield was the 26th rated quarterback last year. You really don’t understand football. I think you’re trolling for dudes. Find another one. I’m not interested
Instead of defaulting straight to gay slurs please answer the question that was proposed to you and defend your comments about the Browns GM Andrew Berry. Maybe I don’t understand, so please answer the question at hand.
P.S. I know an NFL GM that you reference, let’ see if you can back up your claims.
I answered that question. Mayfield was the 26th or 30th rated quarterback last year. The GM has always said that he’s looking for upgrades. Despite Watson getting a suspension, he’ll be back and he is a definite upgrade over Baker and I like Baker. I can’t say it any plainer
Brownspacker9, out of curiosity what kind of numbers do you see Watson having in a full season in Stefanski’s antiquated offense?
Backdoorpacker….whatever numbers he needs to have. Last year the Browns had a top 5 defense in yards allowed so I’m not sure Watson has to put up his Texans 2020 numbers. That team gave up almost 500 points. Stefanski hates turnovers and Baker has thrown more interceptions since 2018 than anyone. If Watson needs to win a shootout, he can.
You keep saying in these articles that the browns are set up long term. But they’re last in cap space combined over the next two years once your friend starts getting paid his crookedly arranged contract. Have fun with Watson throwing to the water boys in 2024. That defense you love to mention will be supporting Brissett this year. They better keep it to 10 points per game.
And stick to football bud, nobody wants to hear that other mess.
Wrong. They’re carrying over 50 million. They have a cap specialist. They will rework contracts after 2024. Do you ever wonder why some teams just keep signing guys? Voidable years. Salary converted to bonus money. I don’t mean this as an insult but I’m in another league compared to you. Learn about football, instead of just fantasy football and then you can come back kiddo
Keep telling yourself that bud.
It’s the truth.
There’s always next year pal. Keep your chin up.
Anybody who needs to tell others they’re in another league in an online football chat clearly lacks confidence in the real world. I feel sorry for you bud.
There is always next year…and the year after….and you get the picture. This trade was never just for this year. Watson is 26. The Browns came within one and half games of winning the division last year with an injured and ineffective Mayfield, plus with as many as 22 players on covid. Brissett has never played with the talent he has now
The Patriot game is a “litmus test”? It’s a preseason game. After the first quarter it’s practice squad guys. How does that become the deciding game?
They’ve been competing for all one one week. Hard to tell anything after that little time.
How is having two QBs splitting first team reps going to help the eventual starter?
Well, the first step is to determine who the starter will be. If they knew the answer to that, there would be no snap splitting.
Perhaps they should speed up the process.
Week 1 depth chart will be as follows
Mayfield
Corral
Walker
I see Darnold getting cut.
That’s a lot of money to eat if Darnold isn’t causing a locker room problem. They’d have to pay him 17.2 million to get rid of him.