Panthers 2022 draft scouting report: Malik Willis’ boundless potential
Could the boundless potential of Malik Willis cause the Carolina Panthers to take a major plunge on the quarterback during the 2022 NFL Draft?
The Carolina Panthers are in need of one major position more than anything else and the entire NFL knows it. The quarterback spot has been a revolving door ever since former league MVP Cam Newton went down due to injury in 2018 and the organization has failed to field a competent starter since.
Since 2018, seven different players have started at quarterback for the Panthers. Along with Newton, that list includes Teddy Bridgewater, Taylor Heinicke, Kyle Allen, Will Grier, P.J. Walker, and most recently, Sam Darnold.
Nothing to write home about, to put it mildly.
The desire to win now from Carolina’s owner David Tepper has ironically enough put this team in a horrible situation at the position. The Panthers are now viewed as a quarterback rehab center – a place where any signal-caller who thinks that they might have some hope left in the tank should go to try to re-start their career.
That’s nice and all, but that’s no proper way to build a team. Please, no more trades.
Carolina has spent big money to try and plug the hole with Bridgewater and sent unnecessary draft capital to the New York Jets to acquire Darnold the year after. They immediately picked up his fifth-year option, for no reasonable reason, and then just one year after that, they found themselves trying to mortgage the entire future for a player facing serious sexual assault allegations.
It’s time Tepper and this organization take a step back and stop trying to take on another team’s failed projects and draft their own guy. The only problem with that is this probably isn’t the class any needy team should be too thrilled about. Especially if you have a top-10 pick and nothing else until the fourth round.
However, that’s not to say no quarterback in this class is worth taking.
You never know what’s going to happen and Malik Willis looks to be this year’s player who has all the physical tools to someday be a star in this league if he can put it all together. Let’s take a closer look at the Liberty product and identify how he could assist the Panthers.