Haynes King only needed one preseason game to leave no doubt about his roster status. The Carolina Panthers believed in the first-year quarterback, and his efforts in the Pro Football Hall of Fame game were all general manager Dan Morgan needed to see.
There was another factor that played into the thought process.
When discussing King's inclusion on Carolina's 53-man roster, Morgan laid his cards on the table pretty emphatically.
Carolina Panthers saw too much potential in Haynes King to put him on waivers
Everything they thought about the Georgia Tech product during their comprehensive pre-draft assessments came true. King is much more than just a rushing quarterback, and the overall command of the offense was another positive working in his favor.
And this was a player the Panthers did not want to risk losing on the waiver wire under any circumstances.
"I think you saw him in the Hall of Fame Game—the way that he operated the offense, led the offense. We felt like he was a guy we didn't want to expose to waivers. We didn't wanna let somebody have the opportunity to get him. He's our type of guy. The type of guy that we wanna work with and continue to develop."
Morgan has a good lay of the land around the NFL. All the contentious releases and waives Carolina made found their way onto the practice squad. That might seem like good fortune, and it was to a certain extent, but it's also extremely well calculated by those in power.
The Panthers knew that King's big performance against the Arizona Cardinals, which was also a standalone game to begin the preseason, would not go unnoticed around the NFL.
Teams are always looking for quarterbacks to develop or act as backups. As such, Morgan left nothing to chance.
This was a supreme vote of confidence. King hasn't been seen since that first outing after suffering a hamstring injury on his game-winning touchdown run. But it was enough to convince Carolina he was worth keeping around.
What comes next is unclear.
Bryce Young is the guy, at least for the next two seasons. Kenny Pickett will back him up this year, and King will be QB3. Just how much he'll be active on game days remains to be seen, but there is real value to suiting him up as a short-yardage option.
Either way, King will get another year to familiarize himself with the scheme, learn from the sidelines, and continue to grow as a player. If his upward trajectory continues, he'll be in line to back up Young in 2027.
Until then, the Panthers should find ways to maximize his physical gifts. And Morgan's bullish outlook suggests the undrafted rookie will have a role to play.
Both in the short term and, potentially, even in the long term.
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