5 critical takeaways from the Carolina Panthers’ loss vs. the Falcons

Cam Newton is not the long-term answer at QB

As painful as it is to say, it’s hard to see Cam Newton leading the Carolina Panthers’ offense long-term.

It’s important to say the nuance that Newton could come in and save the season after spending all that time out of football, and playing behind one of the worst lines in the league was a stretch.

We all got caught up in the fairytale. After the putrid play we’d seen from Sam Darnold, the return of Newton gave fans a much-needed boost.

However, going forward it’s hard to see Newton being the guy. In the passing game, the accuracy isn’t there, although he hasn’t been helped by some lazy route running.

However, despite this Newton can still play a vital role in this offense. He is the best red-zone threat in this league, and the best rushing quarterback of all time and should be used accordingly.

The issue being it’s impossible to establish the run game behind this very subpar offensive line.

With much more pressing issues than signal-caller needing to be addressed in the upcoming draft, it’s logical for Carolina to stick with Newton for 2022 and then draft a quarterback in 2023.

This potentially gives whichever prospect that comes in a year to learn under Newton in a better functioning offense with a competent head coach. But considering what’s transpired at the position since Matt Rhule took charge, one couldn’t say with any confidence which way it’s going to go.