The Carolina Panthers‘ quarterback carouse continues to spin, as Sam Darnold was activated off injured reserve on Wednesday and took the field on Thursday.
Darnold missed the first six weeks of the season after suffering a high-ankle sprain in the Panthers’ preseason finale. Prior to the injury, he lost the quarterback battle to Baker Mayfield, but due to recent events, Darnold could be leading the Panthers’ offense for the foreseeable future when he returns.
Despite a 1-5 record with 12 losses in the last 13 games, there’s reason for (some) optimism in Carolina. The Panthers have the ninth-easiest schedule remaining this season, according to Pro Football Focus, and while Darnold isn’t a top quarterback in the NFL, he’s still a slight upgrade over the current options on the roster.
The only question is, will the offense look better with him leading the way?
Overall, Carolina’s roster is good enough to compete for a playoff spot. The only position group that’s slacking is at quarterback, which has been the Panthers’ downfall each of the past three seasons.
Regardless, Carolina is in dire need of quality quarterback play that will lead to some wins, or else they will be trending toward making the first overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft. Darnold should provide the club with some help on offense, albeit a minor boost that might not mean much in the long run.
Carolina’s quarterback room has been decimated by injuries
The Panthers were planning on heading into the 2022 season with three quarterbacks on the active roster: Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and Matt Corral. None of the three were available just six weeks into the season due to injuries.
Mayfield is out multiple weeks with a high-ankle sprain while Darnold, as previously mentioned, has missed all of the regular season so far, but he wasn’t the only Panthers quarterback to go down during the preseason.
Corral sustained a lisfranc injury in the second preseason game against the New England Patriots and is out for the campaign. Now four games below .500, Carolina would probably love to be playing the rookie quarterback out of Ole Miss to see how he would command the offense, but that opportunity will have to wait.
This narrowed the quarterback room down to PJ Walker and Jacob Eason, who the Panthers signed to their practice squad back in September after Darnold and Corral were placed on injured reserve. Walker wasn’t even supposed to make the roster but ultimately survived.
Walker remains the starting quarterback for now but will return to his backup role in due time.
The Panthers’ offense won’t massively improve, even with Darnold under center
Carolina activating Sam Darnold was a highly anticipated move, especially after he was seen practicing at relatively full speed ahead of the Rams game.
Although it’s already been announced that PJ Walker will be the starting quarterback for the Panthers’ Week 7 matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it’s a foregone conclusion that Darnold will be commanding the offense sooner rather than later simply because there aren’t many better options out there.
Walker started against the Los Angeles Rams and threw for 60 yards on 16 attempts before exiting with an injury. Predictably, it was a conservative approach for the Panthers. His average depth of target was 3.4 yards, the lowest among all Week 6 starting quarterbacks. Plus, the longest air-yard completion he threw in the game was just one yard downfield, according to Next Gen Stats.
On the bright side, Darnold is the most talented passer on the team – which isn’t saying much – and probably has the best chemistry with the receivers.
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Darnold should provide a minor boost to the offense, but history has shown that he’s not going to be the savior that salvages the Panthers’ season. In his last four appearances in 2021, he threw for just 713 yards, two touchdowns, five interceptions, and had a 62.0 passer rating. The offense averaged just 9.8 points in those four games.
But things were spiraling out of control way before then. After starting 3-0, the Darnold-led Panthers went 1-7 en route to a 5-12 overall record. In his first three starts, he threw three touchdowns and just one interception while having a 99.0 passer rating. In the last nine games, he had six touchdowns, 12 interceptions and a 62.3 rating.
It’s not like when Darnold returns, all the problems on offense will be solved. Everything Carolina is struggling with this season was present last year. Turnovers, passing offense, third-down conversion rate, red zone scoring percentage, all of it, and more. The Panthers are bottom-five in each metric this season, similar to how last year unfolded.
Carolina was hoping Mayfield would be a better option than Darnold, but through his five games as a starter, it’s much more of the same, if not worse.
Over the past two years, neither quarterback has proven to be capable of leading the offense. They will both be free agents after this season, and it’s fair to assume that neither will be on the Panthers’ roster in 2023.
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