As Carolina Panthers open training camp, here are three key position battles to watch
Carolina Panthers GM Scott Fitterer’s time with the Seattle Seahawks taught him the value of having fiery competitors. Players like Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor and Michael Bennett powered the Seahawks’ high-powered defenses, and led the squad to success.
Fitterer hopes to build that same spirit in Carolina by creating competition up and down the lineup as the Panthers kick off their 2022 training camp Tuesday.
“It’s all about adding competition all around,” he said during an introductory press conference for new Carolina quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Mayfield’s addition came because of that desire for competition, as he and quarterback Sam Darnold headline one of the areas where head coach Matt Rhule’s will focus his attention when the team heads to Wofford College.
Who starts at QB?
Mayfield and Darnold are both tasked with learning a new playbook with the introduction of offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo. It’s a difficult task, especially for Mayfield, who said in his first press conference that he’d be spending the time before training camp “cramming” all that information.
But both quarterbacks are experienced at learning new playbooks, a learned skill due to damning circumstances.
In his four seasons, Mayfield’s offensive coordinator has gone from Todd Haley to Freddie Kitchens to Todd Monken to Alex Van Pelt. In that same time, Darnold’s gone from Jeremy Bates to Dowell Loggains to Joe Brady to Jeff Nixon.
With McAdoo’s introduction, the returning Darnold will have had more offensive coordinators (3) than seasons played with the Panthers (1).
Even with that lack of continuity, Darnold does hold a slight edge over Mayfield with his time in the OTA sessions.
But the Panthers made the trade for a reason: Darnold was the second-worst quarterback in the NFL last year in Ben Baldwin’s composite stat that combines expected points added (how much does each play get you closer to scoring a point) and completion percentage over expected (which looks at how accurate quarterbacks are).
Fitterer did praise his first three games, saying “he played well to start the season last year when we protected him.” According to Next Gen Stats, Darnold had the ninth-highest time to throw in the NFL a year ago.
Mayfield struggled through injuries last year but still finished No. 23 in the composite stat, sandwiched between a pair of NFC East quarterbacks, Taylor Heinicke and Daniel Jones. In 2020, a healthy Mayfield finished No. 9, above quarterbacks like Derek Carr and Kyler Murray.
Who slides in across from Brian Burns?
The Panthers lost Haason Reddick in free agency, The battle for No. 2 pass-rusher pits two players with varying draft pedigrees but similar professional stats.
Yetur Gross-Matos, a 2020 second-round pick, played 14 games last year but only started two. His pressures, per Pro Football Reference, dropped from 12 in his rookie season to just seven a year ago. He finished with 3.5 sacks, third-most on the team.
Frankie Luvu, a 25-year-old undrafted free agent who signed with Carolina in 2021 after three years with the New York Jets, started four games a year ago. He only recorded 1.5 sacks but tied with Gross-Matos last year with seven pressures.
The team may go after a veteran like Carlos Dunlap, who visited the Panthers in June. While the 33-year-old would instantly be one of the oldest players on the team’s defense, he’d add pass-rushing juice none of the others currently have.
Dunlap recorded 8.5 sacks and 21 pressures last year with Seattle, numbers that would’ve ranked No. 3 in both categories for Carolina a year ago. He has some familiarity with Fitterer after overlapping with him in Seattle during the 2020 season.
Third receiver
With Robby Anderson set to return after a brief retirement scare, he and DJ Moore look to team up as the team’s top duo at the wide-receiver position. After that, two names headline the fight for the third spot.
Terrace Marshall Jr. only caught 17 passes last year for 138 yards in an injury-plagued rookie year.
The 2021 second-rounder comes into this season with a better grasp on how to approach being a professional, telling Panthers.com after minicamp that he’d spend the break between then and training camp “staying in my playbook, staying in the film room, and just working on my technique, polishing things up. I’ll get ready for camp and ready for the season.”
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McAdoo seemed impressed with the young receiver’s potential, telling Stone that he envisioned Marshall Jr. playing both inside and outside. Marshall Jr., who stands at 6-foot-2 and ran a 4.40 40-yard-dash, has physical attributes but needs to put them together in training camp and build a rapport with whomever ends up as the starting quarterback.
His competition, Rashard Higgins, already has that connection with one of the quarterbacks, playing four years with Mayfield in Cleveland. While he only had 275 yards last season, he sparkled in 2020 with 37 receptions for 599 yards.
He’s an underrated player, ranking third in Football Outsiders’ DVOA metric, which measures a player’s efficiency per play ran.
““I’m 27 and I still feel like I’m at the peak of my game. When that time comes, it comes, but for right now I’m locked in and I’m ready to go,” Higgins told the Charlotte Observer in late June.
Carolina’s wide-receiver room also features Brandon Zylstra (29-year-old UDFA) and Shi Smith (2021 sixth-rounder). Smith faces a pending legal matter after being arrested for unlawfully carrying a handgun, drug possession and speeding in South Carolina in March. He participated in OTAs and minicamp.
This story was originally published July 25, 2022 at 6:52 AM.
