Robby Anderson made it perfectly clear a couple of weeks ago that he didn’t want Browns’ quarterback Baker Mayfield in Carolina, but will Jimmy Garoppolo suffice?
Numerous reports suggested that if the Panthers decide to pass on a quarterback and go with a lineman, they’d look at veteran options such as Garoppolo. If the Panthers roll with Jimmy G, they could do worse. In his five years in San Francisco Garoppolo holds a 33-14 record as a starter, despite playing one full healthy season.
The Panthers have been restructuring contracts for a huge portion of the offseason to increase cap flexibility. Currently they have $30 million in free cap space. If Carolina doesn’t want to use much of that free cap space, they could try to restructure Garoppolo’s deal or even make Sam Darnold available to offset some of the cost.
While Jimmy G can make the Panthers better, the issue is that despite having the cap space, there are not many assets they can use. Carolina gave up a second-rounder in the Darnold deal. Their third-rounder went to Jacksonville in exchange for CJ Henderson. Neither transaction has panned out so far. There’s also a risk of missing the mark with Jimmy G and not being able to land a young QB in a deep 2023 draft.
If the Panthers decide to go with an offensive lineman should they pursue Garoppolo and go for it in terms of making a playoff push, or should they draft a lineman at no. 6 and roll with Darnold for a year and pick a QB in 2023. What do you see the Panthers doing?