Panthers name Baker Mayfield the starting quarterback
With 20 days remaining until Week 1 of the NFL Season kicks off, the Carolina Panthers announced Monday that former Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield will begin the 2022 season as the team’s starting signal caller against the Browns (ironically enough).
“When we started this process, we were looking at three things,” head coach Matt Rhule said, via the team website. “Number one, mastery of the offense, number two, situational football excellence, and number three, moving the ball and getting guys involved. That’s been our focus all along.
“Baker has made a lot of improvement, a lot of growth in all three areas in a short amount of time.”
This will be the Panthers’ third starter in three seasons; Mayfield won the job over incumbent starter Sam Darnold, who went 4-7 in 11 starts (12 games) with Carolina last season after completing 59.9 percent of his passes for 2,527 yards, nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions. They also drafted former Ole Miss signal caller Matt Corral in the third-round (94th overall) in April, though he could be out for the season with a Lisfranc tear in his foot.
After Mayfield had contract disputes with Cleveland, paired with willingly trading for-and-extending Deshaun Watson for a record-setting five-year contract — all but fracturing Mayfield’s partnership with the Browns — Carolina acquired him for a conditional fifth-round pick (that could turn into a fourth-round pick) in July. Carolina will be paying Mayfield $4.9 million while Cleveland is due $10.5 million, per Spotrac.
Despite playing through a torn labrum throughout 2021, Mayfield completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 3,010 yards, 17 touchdowns (career low) and 13 interceptions in 14 starts. Over his four-year career, he’s completed 61.6 percent of his attempts, tossing for 14,125 yards, 92 touchdowns to 56 interceptions in 60 games (59 starts).
He led Cleveland to their first playoff win since 1994 in 2020, posting 3,563 yards, 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions — his last fully healthy season. If he can remain healthy in Carolina, he should be an upgrade over Darnold — though they’re still not projected to be a very good team.
“All along, we’ve felt like we need to have a really strong quarterback room, and have every quarterback ready to play,” Rhule said. “The reality of this league is most teams will play multiple quarterbacks. Sam has worked incredibly hard, played really well for us during training camp, and will be ready to go if and when it’s needed.”
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