Panthers’ QB situation takes another turn: Steve Wilks leaves starting seat wide open
Steve Wilks didn’t want to jump to conclusions about his quarterback depth chart following the Carolina Panthers’ embarrassing 42-21 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Paycor Stadium.
Wilks — now 1-3 as the Panthers’ interim head coach — benched starter PJ Walker at halftime and watched backup Baker Mayfield lead three garbage-time scoring drives in the second half of the blowout loss.
Despite Walker’s 0.0 first-half passer rating and Mayfield’s fill-in flow, Wilks wasn’t inclined to name his starting quarterback for Thursday’s matchup against the Atlanta Falcons before heading back to Charlotte.
“I couldn’t tell you right now,” Wilks said. “And we’ll be able to sit here and look at a few things, talk to the staff and I’ll have that answer here soon.”
While Walker and Mayfield have swapped the starter and backup roles throughout the first nine weeks of the season, another variable is likely to be added to the fold this week.
UPDATE (Monday, 9:21 a.m.): Former starting quarterback Sam Darnold (ankle) was activated from injured reserve on Monday. He had been on injured reserve since the beginning of the season in September and had his 21-day practice window activated on Oct. 19. After practicing for three weeks, Darnold will no longer be restricted to individual drills.
However, even with Darnold poised for a return to the lineup, Wilks wasn’t interested in reordering the depth chart after the rough road loss.
“I’m not going to get into hypotheticals,” Wilks said. “Right now, coming off this game, we need to watch the tape and figure out exactly where we are — in all three phases — and get guys to step up, as well as coaches and myself.”
Walker — who completed just three of 10 passes for nine yards and two interceptions against the Bengals — admitted that the offense came out flat on Sunday. Walker also owned up to making some “boneheaded mistakes” with his team trailing throughout the first half.
But the former practice-squad quarterback isn’t ready to give up the starting job just yet.
“I’m going to go out there and continue to work, continue to put the time in, the work in,” Walker said. “I’m going to let Coach Wilks make that decision. That ain’t on me, and that ain’t on Baker either.”
Mayfield came into the game with the Panthers trailing the Bengals by 35 points.
He completed 70% of his passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns in fill-in duty. Even with that solid stat line, Mayfield admitted it’s hard to pay himself on the back due to the prevent coverage he faced with the game out of hand.
“When you’re seeing certain coverages, kind of a cautionary defense, a lot of checkdowns and things like that,” Mayfield said about his performance. “Just trying to take what they are giving me, and just move forward.”
Now, Mayfield and Walker — and maybe even Darnold — will need to prepare for a quick turnaround. In just four days, the Panthers host the Falcons in a rematch of their Week 8 overtime thriller.
The lack of clarity at the top quarterback spot will only make the Panthers’ short week that much more turbulent.
“I’m not going to get into that — that’s not my decision,” Mayfield said. “But like I said, I want to win, and whatever role that is decided to be, I’m going to do it, and I’m going to do it extremely well.”
This story was originally published November 6, 2022 at 5:51 PM.
