There has been an ongoing quarterback battle in Carolina between Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold, and while it was previously assumed that Mayfield had all but won the job, they made their decision official on Monday.
Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule announced on Monday that Mayfield will indeed be the starter to begin the 2022-23 season.
He revealed his decision to name Baker the starter during a press conference, listing the three things that the organization was looking for from Baker.
“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.
He gave his honest thoughts on Mayfield’s development since he has been with the Panthers, saying that he has seen a ton of improvement and growth in his game.
“Baker has made a lot of improvement, a lot of growth in all three areas in a short amount of time.”
It will be interesting to see what the team does with Darnold moving forward now that he has officially lost the starting quarterback battle.
Many thought that one of their four quarterbacks on the roster would be traded, but that was also before rookie quarterback Matt Corral suffered a season-ending Lisfranc injury on Saturday.
Regardless, this makes for a very interesting storyline in Week 1 when the Panthers take on the Cleveland Browns, Baker’s former team in their first matchup of the season.
