Panthers Officially Announce Starting Quarterback for Week 1

Less than three weeks ahead of their season opener against the Browns, the Panthers have settled on a starting quarterback.

On Monday, coach Matt Rhule announced that Baker Mayfield will be the team’s starter to begin the season, beating out the incumbent Sam Darnold. The decision will pit Mayfield against his old team in his Carolina debut.

“When we started this process, we were looking at three things: Number one, mastery of the offense, number two, situational football excellence, and number three, moving the ball and getting guys involved,” Rhule said. “That’s been our focus all along. Baker has made a lot of improvement, a lot of growth in all three areas in a short amount of time.”

Mayfield arrived in Carolina after a July trade from Cleveland. The Browns drafted the Heisman Trophy winner with the first overall pick in 2018. Mayfield played in 60 games for Cleveland over the past four years, helping to end a 17-year playoff drought by guiding the Browns to the divisional round in 2020.

Last season, Mayfield completed 60.5% of his pass attempts for 3,010 yards, 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 14 games. He beat out Darnold, who, in his first season with the Panthers, threw for 2,527 yards, nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 12 games.

“All along, we’ve felt like we need to have a really strong quarterback room, and have every quarterback ready to play,” Rhule said. “The reality of this league is most teams will play multiple quarterbacks. Sam has worked incredibly hard, played really well for us during training camp, and will be ready to go if and when it’s needed.”

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