There’s no doubt the Carolina Panthers have gotten themselves an upgrade under center this summer. But where does their move to Baker Mayfield put them in the big picture of the all-important position?
Well, not too high, according to Around the NFL writer Marc Sessler.
Sessler picked up where his good friend and fellow football scribe/podcaster Gregg Rosenthal left off, firing up NFL.com’s 2022 edition of the “QB Index.” And in the first set of rankings, Mayfield settles in at a modest No. 22.
“I worry about Mayfield behind Carolina’s wait-and-see offensive line,” Sessler notes. “In Cleveland, Baker did plenty of good for a long-suffering Browns club, but his on-stage performance was all over the map when the pocket crumbled. Mayfield’s desire to create — a positive attribute, in theory — leads to him holding the ball too long. His occasional inability to see the field remains a lingering tic. His competitive fire — another theoretical plus — triggered last season’s shoulder injury after he tried to make a tackle following an ugly pick in Week 2. Mayfield spent the rest of the season in pain, but his overall body of work convinced the Browns that a long-term deal wasn’t the play.”
The play now, at least for the Panthers, is to see if Mayfield is a long-term solution. Carolina acquired the former No. 1 overall selection for a conditional 2024 fifth-round draft pick back on July 6.
Since then, Mayfield has taken the reins—beating out fellow 2018 draftee Sam Darnold for the team’s starting job. Ironically enough, his first real day on said job will see him and the Panthers welcome in those Browns for a Week 1 showdown.
So the pressure is definitely on for Mayfield—not only in a “prove it” game, but also in what’ll be a “prove it” season for the soon-to-be free agent.
