Week 11 spotlight: Solving the Will Grier vs. P.J. Walker riddle
By Dean Jones
Will Grier’s potential
The Carolina Panthers saw enough in Will Grier to select him in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. His production at West Virginia was stellar and left plenty of reasons to be encouraged regarding his ability to develop into a strong NFL quarterback.
However, to say Grier went through his fair share of complications as a rookie would be something of an understatement. He was thrown to the wolves by the Panthers and their porous offensive line, which left the signal-caller on a hiding to nothing during.
Two dismal starts late in the campaign brought 228 passing yards, no touchdowns, four interceptions, a 53.8 percent completion percentage, and a lowly 29.0 grade from Pro Football Focus.
Not exactly starting caliber.
Grier admitted that he didn’t really take his craft seriously in his first year, which obviously came back to haunt him. So there will be no margin for error where the player is concerned if he gets another chance to showcase his strengths if Teddy Bridgewater can’t go.
His ability to get the ball downfield from the pocket might come in use against a Detroit secondary that has struggled for large parts of the season. It will be vital for Grier to build some early confidence to get the previous campaign out of his mind and offensive coordinator Joe Brady’s play-calling is going to be crucial.
This will be a good audition for Grier and one that might not necessarily earn him the long-term starting job in Carolina. But a strong showing would add to his trade value this offseason.