Carolina Panthers: Key things to watch against the Chicago Bears

The quarterback rotation

The rotation of the quarterbacks is something I’m going to be watching for on Thursday. We already know that Cam Newton won’t play, so we will probably see a lot of Kyle Allen and rookie Will Grier.

It will be interesting to see who starts the game, and how long they will stay in. My guess is that Allen will be the first one to start the game as he is higher up on the depth chart then Grier. For both of these quarterbacks, this is when the fight for the backup position will begin. Allen certainly has a leg up on Grier just because he has a little bit more experience, but that could change depending on how the rookie performs throughout the course of the preseason.

It will also be interesting to see what type of plays the Carolina Panthers run during the course of the game. Will they focus on rushing the ball seeing as these quarterbacks do not have a ton of experience? Alternatively, will they throw the ball a lot to see  how each quarterback reacts in certain situations?  It will be interesting to see if they scale the playbook down, given the fact that this is the preseason opener, or if they decide to give the quarterbacks a little bit more freedom with the playcalling. The rotation and playcalling are things I will be watching on Thursday.