As the preseason continues through Week 2, Panthers legend Steve Smith is already sold on which quarterback he wants to the lead the offense of his former team.
Carolina features four quarterbacks on its current depth chart that include Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, PJ Walker and rookie Matt Corral. While neither Darnold nor Mayfield played in the Panthers’ 20-10 loss to the Patriots on Friday, Smith made it clear who Carolina’s signal caller should be in its season opener against the Browns—Mayfield’s former team—on Sept. 11.
During the NFL Network broadcast, Smith said Mayfield, who the Panthers traded for in July, has the “charisma,” “swagger” and a “John Wayne” mentality. Meanwhile, he feels that Darnold is someone who will “put you to sleep, reading a book.”
“We don’t need any librarians,” Smith added about Darnold.
Prior to Friday, Smith indicated that he was rolling with Mayfield to be the team's starting quarterback last month.
“We have Baker Mayfield, whatever the compensation is it doesn’t matter,” Smith said in July. “We hope for the best, and we pray the worst never happens. … If you’re going with your team you’ve got to roll with him. And I’m rolling with the Carolina Panthers.”
Earlier this month, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that there was an expectation that Mayfield would have the “inside track” to becoming Carolina’s signal caller.
However, after Friday’s loss, Panthers coach Matt Rhule was still not “ready” to name the team’s starter.
“You know, not prepared for anything right now other than watching this tape,” Rhule said. “Like I said all along, when we know we know, and we’ll announce something when it’s right. … The ones didn’t play and those guys [Mayfield and Darnold] are both competing to be with the ones, so we wanted to make sure they had a chance. We didn’t want to put one or two guys out there and play behind the second offensive line.”
In the 2021 season, Darnold struggled in the Panthers offense, completing on 59.9% of his passes for 2,527 yards, nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions through 12 games.
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