Panthers Need to Add Competition for Sam Darnold

Right now, the Panthers don't have anyone pushing Sam Darnold for the starting job. That needs to change.

Even in June, there is still a lot of uncertainty with the Panthers' quarterback situation as Sam Darnold's only competition at the moment is P.J. Walker and third round draft pick, Matt Corral.

GM Scott Fitterer told Darnold ahead of the 2022 NFL Draft that competition would be added to the room in one way or another. Carolina nearly struck a deal on the second night of the draft with the Cleveland Browns for Baker Mayfield but instead, traded up to take Corral. 

It's very clear that Corral is not quite ready to challenge Darnold for the starting job, which is why the idea of trading for Mayfield or perhaps Jimmy Garoppolo is still on the table for Carolina. 

From my point of view at OTAs and minicamp, Darnold was very up and down. On the final day of OTAs, he threw the ball as good as I've ever seen him throw it. Had good ball placement, calm feet, and a confidence to him. 

The same can't be said for the final day of minicamp as he was very erratic to start. He threw a few balls behind receivers, threw a few short, sailed a few, but then also had a couple of touchdown passes over the middle of the field. At the end, the team worked on a scenario in which they were down eight with a shade under 50 seconds left. On the final play, Darnold took too long to make a decision and by the time Shi Smith came down with the reception, the clock had expired.

Like I always say, it's hard to really judge where a player is at when they're in shorts and helmets. Let alone while they're in the early stages of installing a new offense. Despite that, Rhule feels good about the progress that Darnold has made mechanically, but is interested to see what happens when the team commences for training camp next month in Spartanburg.

"I would tell him that Sam has gotten a lot better," Rhule said in a response about what he will tell Fitterer in their sit-down meeting this week. "Really, really improving in the offense and if we played today, Sam would be our quarterback. Sam's job is to take the next five weeks and make sure he shows up to Wofford better than he is right now. He said to me yesterday how good he feels footwork-wise in the offense. He's got to get to training camp and prove it with the pads on and people trying to knock you down."

Darnold may be the No. 1 quarterback on the roster right now, but there is no one truly challenging him for that job. Fitterer and Rhule both want a competition-driven roster and the only way to do that is by adding a veteran quarterback and Rhule is still open to bringing one in.

"Our job is to get Sam as ready as possible and at any position, if we can make a significant improvement, we absolutely should."

I'm not big on trading more assets away for another quarterback who isn't likely to be "the guy" moving forward, but somehow the Panthers have to add to the QB room.

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