Former Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule was trending on Twitter this weekend—and it wasn’t because he took the University of Nebraska job. (At least not yet.)
It was because of something else he didn’t do, something that really didn’t have anything to do with him. But to Panthers fans, it did—and what Rhule didn’t do 565 days ago was draft Justin Fields.
The Chicago Bears quarterback is currently in the midst of an electrifying breakout. Over his last four games, Fields has thrown for seven touchdowns to just two interceptions while rushing for another five scores and an absurd 467 yards.
Meanwhile, down in Carolina, the Panthers are trying to find a decent enough passer to get them through the rest of the 2022 season. Heck, even one with a healthy foot would do—as each of the passers on the active roster have sustained a high-ankle sprain at some point in the year.
Well, sprained or not, those feet and the players they belong to aren’t the answer the organization has been looking for under center. It’s not Baker Mayfield, it’s not Sam Darnold, it’s not PJ Walker and it probably won’t be Matt Corral—all of whom were left behind in Rhule’s heaping pile of quarterback waste.
So, this all now begs the question—one Panthers fans were lamenting on the bird app this Sunday. Did the Panthers really, unequivocally fudge up by passing on Fields in the 2021 draft?
The stage was set on April 29 of last spring. The quarterback-needy Panthers were on the clock with the eighth overall selection and the Ohio State University star was just sitting there, ripe for the taking.
Instead, Rhule and his influence trusted what they traded for in Darnold, left Fields on the board and took University of South Carolina cornerback Jaycee Horn. This is what Rhule had to say about the choice on The Rich Eisen Show just a few days later:
“No, I love those guys and I think they’re gonna be great NFL players,” Rhule said of Fields and New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, who he also passed up. “We just felt like Sam plus another player would be better for the team overall. Bill Parcells once said, ‘One player can’t do it alone.’ So we’re just trying to build the whole team.
“And I just believe in Sam. I believe that he deserves the opportunity to go out and play with us. I think those other young quarterbacks are gonna be fantastic players. But the hit rate on first-round quarterbacks isn’t real, real high. And to have a chance to get Jaycee Horn and have Sam Darnold, we just kinda felt like, ‘Hey, this is two-for-one.’ Now we just have to make sure Sam’s a great player for us.”
Well, Sam wasn’t a great player for them. Neither was Teddy Bridgewater and neither is Mayfield.
Luckily, the silver lining in that decision is Horn. The second-year defender has already shown consistent signs of promise and should become one of the elite players at his position in due time.
But, in a sport where the quarterback is king, that may still end up being the wrong pick. No matter how great Horn eventually is and no matter how good of a pick it’ll be considered, he won’t end up being the right one if Fields keeps doing what he’s doing.
As of now, it’s still too early to tell if Carolina made a franchise-altering step in the wrong direction. After all, Fields is just starting to catch on—so who’s to say this recent run of play isn’t just temporary?
If this, however, is a turning of the corner for the ultra-talented quarterback, the Panthers and their fans could be playing a sickening game of “what if?” for years to come.
