Panthers mailbag: How can Steve Wilks keep his job? Will PJ Walker stick around in 2023?
Carolina Panthers fans are getting anxious. Their squad is 2-6 and in the midst of an interim head-coaching tenure.
The Carolina faithful is intrigued by the team’s future. And that’s why The Charlotte Observer has opened up its weekly mailbag.
Every week, we will take a select trio of questions from our beat writers’ weekly AMAs (ask me anything) on Twitter and expand on answers given to the best questions.
Below are three questions selected for this week’s mailbag:
From @JRodNFLDraft on Twitter: Do you believe PJ Walker has an opportunity to be the starter in 2023 as a bridge QB?
Mike Kaye: Walker has had a roller-coaster ride of a three-game stretch for the Panthers.
Against the Los Angeles Rams, it was hard to even call him a quarterback, as he only completed two passes in front of the line scrimmage. Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he let the ball rip and looked the part of a starting quarterback.
And then against the Atlanta Falcons, he had a tale of two halves, with an end-of-regulation throw for the ages.
That said, I think Walker’s future is really interconnected to Steve Wilks’ outlook.
If Wilks is retained, Walker could certainly be used as a bridge starter while a first-round rookie or Matt Corral marinates on the bench for a few games. If Wilks is let go, it’s more likely that a new regime would tear down the quarterback room completely.
Still, Walker has shown — even in the absence of longtime mentor Matt Rhule — that he has NFL-level talent and impressive intangibles. Teammates and coaches ride with Walker because he’s an excellent leader and motivator. Frankly, Walker is as likable as they come in the NFL.
And before anyone dismisses his talent, Walker’s 62-yard touchdown strike to wideout DJ Moore was a throw very few can make in the league. That’s not to say Walker is a premium talent or a franchise QB-level passer, but he also isn’t practice squad fodder either.
If Walker can continue to manage the offense and play well, I think there’s a strong chance that he’s retained if Wilks sticks around. If he falters, and Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield return to the lineup, all bets are off.
However, regardless of where he is next season, Walker has proven he belongs in the NFL during this three-game stretch.
Walker would be an ideal backup for a team like the Philadelphia Eagles, who are set to lose Gardner Minshew to free agency next offseason. Walker has a notable background with Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, who coached him in Indianapolis.
From @Cerea1kira on Twitter: What does Wilks need to do to get the job going forward?
MK: Much like Walker, Wilks needs to win and show exponential growth in the wake of Rhule’s firing.
Following Rhule’s dismissal, Panthers owner David Tepper said Wilks would need to do an “incredible” job to be considered as a permanent head coach. Tepper then repeatedly said the team needed to “get over the hump,” which he categorized as winning more games than the season before and showing tangible growth in doing so.
Wilks was given 12 games to prove himself. He is 1-2 through three matchups.
The Falcons loss was a major letdown for Wilks, as he showed the team would battle and compete for him, but still coughed up a brutal loss due to penalties and missed kicks. Wilks needs to get the juice back, so to speak, following the heartbreaker to Atlanta.
If Wilks can split the 12-game slate and go 6-6, he will have done something that Rhule never accomplished in a season: win more than five games. Wilks having a .500 record as an interim head coach — after trading away the team’s best offensive player, running back Christian McCaffrey — would be incredibly impressive.
With a relatively “blah” slate of opponents over the next nine weeks, Carolina going 5-4 isn’t completely out of the realm of possibility.
The Panthers will get rematches against the Buccaneers (Jan. 1) and New Orleans Saints (Jan. 8), who they’ve already defeated. They’ll have a rematch against the Falcons next Thursday (Nov. 10), and with a home-field advantage, could potentially right the wrongs of Week 8.
The Panthers also have this week’s matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals (Nov. 6). Cincinnati is likely to be without its top receiver and best cornerback.
Struggling squads like Pittsburgh Steelers (Dec. 18) and the Detroit Lions (Dec. 24) are still on their home schedule. The Denver Broncos (Nov. 27) and Seattle Seahawks (Dec. 11) aren’t world-beaters, either.
So realistically, if Wilks can get the Panthers to 7-10, Tepper — based on his wording last month — should at least consider taking the interim tag off the Charlotte native’s job title.
From @newbeachfan on Twitter: With the lack of pass rush production from anyone opposite of (Brian) Burns, were you surprised by them not trading for a DE?
MK: The problem with trading for a pass-rusher at the deadline is such players are typically high-cost assets. While the Eagles were able to snag defensive end Robert Quinn away from the Chicago Bears for a fourth-round pick, his pass-rush win rate this season has been more comparable to Yetur Gross-Matos than Brian Burns.
Historically, trading for a pass-rusher at the deadline is a contender move because the cost is typically excessive. Take the Miami Dolphins’ trade with the Denver Broncos, for example. The Dolphins (5-3) coughed up a 2023 first-round pick, a 2024 fourth-round pick and rotational running back Chase Edmonds for defensive end Bradley Chubb and a 2025 fifth-round pick. That’s a cost that a 2-6 team absolutely couldn’t stomach.
There’s also the fact that Chubb is about enter negotiations for a new contract (UPDATE: Chubb agreed to a five-year, $110 million contract extension with the Dolphins on Thursday, according to NFL Network), just like Burns, who is going to have a ton of leverage after it was leaked that the Panthers turned down a package of 2024 and 2025 first-round picks for him last month. The Panthers can’t pay two young top-tier pass-rushers at a league-high clip.
One could argue a deal like the Broncos’ trade with the New York Jets for pass-rusher Jacob Martin could have been palatable. The Broncos swapped their 2024 fourth-round pick with the Jets’ 2024 fifth-round pick to acquire Martin. But that deal doesn’t really move the needle for Carolina.
So no, it’s not surprising at all that the Panthers didn’t trade for a pass-rusher.
That said, the one deadline trade that really stood out to me from the Panthers perspective was the Minnesota Vikings acquiring tight end TJ Hockenson from the Detroit Lions. Teams rarely trade premium players within their own division, and Hockenson is a top-10 (at worst) tight end in the NFL, plus he has a year left on his rookie deal.
The Panthers’ offense is badly in need of a consistent playmaker at tight end. Hockenson can be a bulk-catch weapon, and he is also an excellent blocker.
The Vikings traded a 2023 second-round pick and a 2024 third-round pick to the Lions for Hockenson, a 2023 fourth-round pick and a 2024 conditional fourth-round pick.
In theory, the Panthers could probably have landed Hockenson for a cheaper cost, since they aren’t division rivals with the Lions. Trading the San Francisco 49ers’ second-round pick from the McCaffrey trade and swapping the Carolina’s 2023 third-round pick for the Lions’ fourth-round pick would have been an enticing deal, on the surface.
The Panthers would get Hockenson and still have three picks left over from the McCaffrey trade in that scenario. But, obviously, that’s only a projection, as we don’t know if the Panthers were even interested in the tight end or if my proposed trade would have triggered the Lions’ interest in a deal.
This story was originally published November 3, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
