CHARLOTTE, NC — Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule doesn’t know if his starting quarterback will be the newly acquired baker mayfield or start back sam darnoldbut he believes the competition will give the team its best shot at success since arriving in 2020.
“My job is not to pick the starting quarterback,” Rhule said Monday, the first time he has spoken publicly since Carolina acquired Mayfield in a trade with Cleveland earlier this month. “Players will do that with the way they play.
“My job is to make sure we get really good players in the room, which we do now, and make sure they get opportunities. It’s going to be a fun ride. When we know, we’ll know.”
The journey begins Tuesday, when the Panthers report to training camp at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It will be Rhule’s third NFL camp after consecutive five-win seasons to start his career as an NFL head coach.
The perception nationally is that the Panthers need to show marked improvement for Rhule to keep his job beyond this season. Rhule’s focus is building a team capable of winning, and he understands that a capable quarterback is key to that.
“This year, I hope to win,” he said. “I’ve never gone into a season and said, ‘Well, I hope I can win as many games and keep my job.'” I want to win at the highest level.”
Rhule believes the competition between Mayfield and Darnold gives him that opportunity no matter who wins the job. With those two, along with the third-round pick Matt Corral and former XFL star pj walkercan’t imagine many teams having a deeper quarterback room.
“There’s going to be a lot of competition,” Rhule said. “And to be honest, it’s going to be really good for our team, the competition.”
That competition began over the weekend when Mayfield and Darnold practiced with the running back. Christian McCaffrey and other teammates on their own in the Charlotte area. That Darnold was part of that competition, Rhule said, speaks to how he handled the Mayfield addition.
“When we let him know we were making this move, he handled it like the best team man, the best professional,” Rhule said. control, and that’s the way I play.’ I look forward to seeing him play some great football during this camp.”
The Panthers haven’t had a great performance at quarterback since the middle of the 2018 season, when Cam Newton was the starter. Since Rhule was signed in January 2020, four different quarterbacks have started at least one game.
Darnold went 4-7 as a starter last season, prompting the team to seek out the former Houston Texans quarterback. deshaun watson during the low season. The Cleveland Browns won that battle, making Mayfield expendable.
The Browns pursued Watson after Mayfield struggled to go 6-8 last season following an 11-5 record in 2020.
So both quarterbacks, Mayfield (the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft) and Darnold (the No. 3 pick), come to camp with something to prove.
Darnold’s advantage is that he’s had an entire offseason in the system put in place by new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo. Mayfield’s advantage is that he proved in 2020 with the Browns that he has what it takes to lead a team to the playoffs.
“There’s no question he has to come here and he has to learn the offense and he has to go from level 1 knowing the offense to level 4 mastery where you’re subconsciously confident,” Rhule said of Mayfield. “That’s part of his journey.”
Rhule didn’t reveal how reps will be split between the two in camp until he sits down with all the quarterbacks on Tuesday. However, he expects the situation to be “fluid” based on performance.
The goal, Rhule said, is to create an “identity” on offense that the team hasn’t had in the past two years, in large part because of the quarterback’s inconsistent play.
“I think we really have a talented team,” Rhule said after an offseason of rebuilding the roster and personnel. “Because we have talent, we can really focus on performance and results.”