Carolina Panthers: Will Baker Mayfield Change Their QB Woes?

With the 2022 season up us, it was only a matter of time before Baker Mayfield was on the move. Who was the lucky team? The Carolina Panthers. Carolina has struggled to find someone to put under center since they cut ties with Cam Newton. After what appears to be a failed Sam Darnold experiment, the Panthers returned once again to Cam Newton, only to minimize their gain. Now they have Baker and he should give a spark to this struggling franchise.

Believe it or not, Baker Mayfield will have less pressure in Carolina. The fact that the Panthers only gave up a conditional 5th-round pick for the former 1st-pick overall means even if he’s not the answer, they didn’t bet the farm to acquire him. Cleveland did him no favors while he was there and now he’ll get a fresh start in a new atmosphere. Even as bad as the Panthers have been the past few seasons, they’re still not in as bad of shape as the Browns.

On the one hand, you have the Cleveland Browns who have been searching for their franchise quarterback for what seems to be the entire history of the organization. On the other hand, the Carolina Panthers have only been searching for a couple of years. Both the Browns and Panther have been to the playoffs in recent years but Carolina’s drought has been a little longer.

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Cleveland can celebrate all they want with their acquisition of Deshaun Watson but pending his suspension, even he is a question mark for them. Baker Mayfield on the other hand has a better opportunity to excel in Carolina than he did with the Cleveland Browns. Despite sloppy QB play over a couple of seasons, they’re not too far gone from a playoff run. As a matter of fact, the Panthers still have a good core of young players who have been working together the past few seasons. Cleveland through Mayfield to the wolves in an organization that is constantly in a state of a rebuild mode.

The job is Mayfield’s to take as Sam Darnold hasn’t solidified himself as an NFL threat while Baker has shown a few flashes. He’s going from a run-first team in the Browns, to a run-first team in the Panthers. However, Carolina would like to change that up as lead running back Christian McCaffrey has been beaten up by injuries as of late. With a WR room that consists of DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson, he has a few explosive weapons to throw to.

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The one thing that might hold him back is his own ego. While Cleveland never fully backed Baker Mayfield, his attitude and ego as a first-round pick and collegiate success didn’t do him any favors. The mistakes he made are coachable and easily fixed but he gives off this impression that he’s not willing to learn or change from the things that he does well in order to get better. Maybe behind the closed-door practices, he might be different, but his whole demeanor screams unwillingness to learn and grow and it shows up on game day.

Baker Mayfield has every opportunity to be successful with the Carolina Panthers. The NFC is only controlled by a couple of teams. If he can come in, focus, and learn there’s no reason they can’t make at least a wild card spot with him at the helm.