Carolina Panthers: No need to fuss over the loss of Tommy Stevens
The Carolina Panthers reportedly had no interest in quarterback Tommy Stevens as the New Orleans Saints ultimately drafted him. There is no need to fuss about losing him at all.
Once the 2020 NFL Draft was officially in the books, multiple news outlets reported how the New Orleans Saints seemed to have pulled a fast one on the Carolina Panthers. The story goes, someone picked up potential information that the Panthers were looking to sign quarterback Tommy Stevens as an undrafted free agent and their NFC South rival Saints wanted to prevent that.
The Saints found a way to trade for a seventh-round draft pick in order to select Stevens and bring him into their organization. In the grand scheme of things, there truly is no need to fuss over the loss of Stevens. He was originally projected to not even be drafted at all and likely end up being signed to a team as an undrafted free agent.
The quarterback situation of the Panthers at this point in time is just fine heading into the upcoming season. They’ve already made big changes by parting ways with Cam Newton and brought in free agent quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. As an insurance policy, the Panthers signed XFL quarterback P.J. Walker and even Will Grier will return and prepare for training camp.
Carolina Panthers fans should not fuss over losing Tommy Stevens
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It’s expected the Panthers will start the season with Bridgewater starting and either Walker or Grier as his backup after a training camp competition to see who is the better option. Why would the Panthers waste a draft pick on a quarterback like Stevens who more than likely wouldn’t even make the final roster at the end of training camp?
Even as the Panthers finalized their draft board, quarterback was very low on the priority list compared to all the other needs that had to be addressed. They didn’t need to waste a valuable draft pick on a quarterback since it wasn’t needed as defense was their main focus.
It just wouldn’t have made any sense to draft Stevens and even if they were going to take a flier on him as a UDFA, that’s as far as he would have gotten with the Panthers anyway. In his collegiate career that was mostly spent at Penn State with his senior year ending at Mississippi State, he totaled just 1,459 passing yards, 121 completions, 15 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions.
This all sounds like a story that doesn’t add up as even the Panthers recently commented on whether or not any of this had any truth to it. In an article written by Mike Florio of NBC Sports, Panthers spokesman Steve Drummond confirmed that they didn’t have any deal in place with Stevens and just had conversations with him. You know, just like all general managers do as it’s basically doing their job when it comes to scouting talent for their team.
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Overall, Panthers fans shouldn’t fuss over losing a quarterback like Stevens to the Saints. It not only wouldn’t have made any sense for the Panthers considering all the moves they made at quarterback, but it’s not like he’s going to magically become an elite quarterback anytime soon.