Ready for Sam Darnold’s Panthers debut? You’re going to have to wait a bit longer
When the Carolina Panthers hit the field against the Indianapolis Colts, don’t expect to see many of the team’s starters in action.
The team will not play most of the starters for the first preseason game, according to coach Matt Rhule. That includes new quarterback Sam Darnold.
“Most of our ones won’t play, it’ll be mainly our twos and threes that will play,” Rhule said. “There might be some ones that play, We’ll sit down tomorrow and finish sort of laying out the game plan of who’s healthy and who will play, but that’s why we didn’t really substitute the ones very much here. ... This year’s different, we’re cutting down to 85 (players) on Tuesday, so I want to make sure that all 90 guys are healthy (and) have a chance to put it on tape, so we make the right appropriate decisions on who to keep.”
Rhule said that he was playing to play the starters up until Wednesday of this week, but ultimately made the decision not to.
P.J. Walker will start at quarterback with Will Grier also playing. Rhule said the two would likely split the game 50/50.
Sunday’s game against the Colts is the first of three preseason games. Rhule said that Darnold will play in the third preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Bank of America Stadium, but that he has not decided yet if he will play in the second preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens. The team does not want to put him behind the second- or third-team offensive line in order to reduce the risk of injury.
“It’s really more about the other guys,” Rhule said. “I’m not gonna put him out there with the second offensive line and the second set of skill guys. If he’s out there playing, he’s going to be playing with the starters.”
Defensive end Brian Burns appeared to learn that the starters would not be playing while talking to the media, but was pretty pleased with the news.
“Oh, he said that? Phew. ... That’s great,” Burns said. “I want to see the guys go out there and show what they can do, but it would have felt good to get out there and a get series or two in, but I’m not going to complain.”
Burns said he doesn’t feel like he needs much more action to be ready to play the regular-season games, which are still about a month away.
“Honestly, today was enough. I’m ready now,” he said. “If we had to play the Jets tomorrow, I’m ready.”
This is Rhule’s first preseason game as an NFL head coach. Last year, preseason games were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 6:10 PM.
