4 reasons to panic about Carolina Panthers quarterback situation
By Dean Jones
Should everyone associated with the Carolina Panthers start panicking about their current quarterback situation?
It hasn’t gone according to plan for the Carolina Panthers in their quarterback search so far this offseason. The team has made absolutely no secret of its desire to get an upgrade on Teddy Bridgewater following his disappointing first year under center. But there is now the very real possibility that head coach Matt Rhule may have to go with their current option considering certain things that have transpired over the last fortnight.
This would not be ideal by any stretch of the imagination. Carolina finished 5-11 despite having four players on offense accumulating more than 1,000 all-purpose yards and boasting a defense that made some outstanding strides as the campaign wore on.
Bridgewater needs to take a lot of the blame, even though his pass protection was suspect and he didn’t have the services of Christian McCaffrey alongside him in the backfield for all-but three games.
His inability to come through in clutch situations was damning. Bridgewater went 0-8 on game-winning or tying drives in 2020 and has this been halved to 4-4, it would have resulted in the Panthers reaching the postseason in the first year of Rhule’s reign as head coach.
Stepping into the void left by Cam Newton was never going to be easy. But Bridgewater has plenty of work to do in order to convince people he is the man to lead Carolina moving forward.
That ship has already sailed for most. But moving the former Louisville star will be difficult after the Panthers opted to give him a three-year, $63 million deal with a $15 million signing bonus and $33 million guaranteed despite not starting a full season since 2015.
With this in mind, here are four reasons why it might be time for fans to panic about the team’s plans for the most important position on the field.