Carolina Panthers Draft: Is is too soon to give up on K.J. Costello?
By Dean Jones
What K.J. Costello would bring to the Carolina Panthers
Matt Rhule would be under no illusions as to the size of the project where K.J. Costello is concerned. The quarterback has a cannon for an arm and can fit it into the tightest of windows. But extremely bad habits regarding poor decisions might end up costing him a significant amount of money this spring.
Much will depend on how coachable Costello is.
His leadership has been first-class both at Stanford and during his brief time at Mississippi State. So providing he comes into the NFL with a willingness to learn and make some substantial improvements, then it might see him become a useful commodity in the coming years.
This would be a two-to-three-year development project, which the Carolina Panthers simply cannot wait around for. However, it doesn’t appear as if the organization has any great confidence in P.J. Walker or Will Grier in the long-term, so if Costello goes undrafted as many expect putting him on their practice squad is not out of the realm of possibility.
An eventuality such as this is a win-win for both parties.
It would allow Costello to get back to basics and learn what it takes to be a professional quarterback at his own pace. Carolina also wouldn’t be giving up a draft pick to bring the player on-board, although there will be more than a few teams looking at his arm strength and hoping nobody uses a late-rounder on him.
Yes, Costello failed to deliver the goods in 2020 and he’ll probably pay a substantial price as a result. But it might be too soon to write the prospect off entirely.