6 big offseason mistakes made by the Carolina Panthers at midseason
By Dean Jones
Carolina Panthers traded for Sam Darnold
Sam Darnold is not the guy.
And the Carolina Panthers will be back to square one next spring in pursuit of finding their franchise quarterback of the future.
Darnold’s promising start to life in Carolina following his trade from the New York Jets is now a distant memory. The signal-caller has regressed considerably and is costing his team with dismal production and bemusing decisions that have seen his interceptions skyrocket.
Acquiring Darnold was a big gamble that hasn’t paid off. Picking up his fifth-year option was also an error in hindsight.
Matt Rhule was non-committal when asked about whether Darnold would be the starter if healthy at the Arizona Cardinals. A far cry from his staunch defense of the player in recent weeks.
"“Those of us at the game, we know, and Sam would be the first to tell you, that wasn’t good enough from the quarterback position. We had guys open with some opportunities we weren’t able to connect on. Too many batted balls, can’t happen at this level, and obviously three giveaways. When you look at our season, when we’ve protected the football, we’ve had a chance to win, and when we’ve given the ball away multiple times, we all know the results.”"
Darnold is going through complications and it’s going to take a turnaround of dramatic proportions to secure the position under center in 2022.
In all honesty, that decision has probably already been made.
Of all the calls made by the Panthers this offseason, going with Darnold and passing on the likes of Justin Fields and Mac Jones was the worst of all. Something that could end up setting the organization back for years to come.