Matt Rhule finally put and an end to the speculation about who his head quarterback will be. The team announced on their website Monday afternoon that Baker Mayfield will start when the team opens their season against the Browns September, 11th.
“When we started this process, we were looking at three things,” Rhule said. “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.”
“All along, we’ve felt like we need to have a really strong quarterback room, and have every quarterback ready to play,” Rhule continued. “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.”
Now the only question is how the rest of the quarterback room will sort itself out. The assumption heading into camp was always that the Panthers would keep three quarterbacks on the roster – Mayfield, Darnold and third round draft pick Matt Corral. But with Corral likely headed to the injured reserve list with a lisfranc tear, will the Panthers keep three quarterbacks on the active roster, or just two – allowing for more depth at another position?