In what’s quick turn out to be a yearly custom, the Panthers are on the lookout for a brand new quarterback. Teddy Bridgewater took over for Cam Newton, Sam Darnold took over for Bridgewater, and now there seems to be some enamel to the concept Carolina will discover a solution to commerce for or signal Jimmy Garoppolo to take over for Darnold.
The Panthers have emerged as being the final and finest alternative for Garoppolo this season. They’re a staff with a dire want at QB, the cap house to soak up his contract, and at the least on the floor it looks like a pure match. When you can applaud the Panthers for desirous to do one thing to get higher, buying and selling or signing Garoppolo appears like one other try to realize pace on a rudderless ship careening in direction of the rocks.
It’s an advanced mess, as a result of underneath the veneer of failure, and the movie of filth left by attempting to commerce for Deshaun Watson, the Panthers have truly had a very good offseason. GM Scott Fitterer crammed lots of Carolina’s most urgent wants in free company with sensible, low-money offers that gives the staff flexibility for the long run — whereas retaining two of its finest younger gamers in receiver D.J. Moore and cornerback Donte Jackson, each of whom agreed to extensions. Reconciling this sensible, secure method with a desperation transfer for a quarterback is the place this all goes off the rails.
A transfer for Garoppolo would present a tacit lack of know-how of who the Panthers are, what they might be, and what the long run course of this staff is. To make issues worse, it’s coming on the worst doable time. On the again of a 5-11 season, the 2022 NFL Draft is extremely deep at expertise, simply not on the quarterback place. Passers are a weak spot on this class, and whereas I personally imagine Malik Willis might turn into an elite QB, I additionally perceive there’s simply as a lot threat that he might bust.
Sadly for the Panthers, in a draft this deep additionally they lack belongings. Carolina gave up their 2nd spherical decide as a part of the deal for Sam Darnold, their third rounder went to Jacksonville for C.J. Henderson — and neither participant has panned out. Usually these would have been middling, low-impact offers, however in 2022 these Day 2 picks might be tantamount to 2 strong, beginning gamers, moderately than the reclamation tasks they bought in return.
So now we have a foul staff, in a draft with no clear quarterback, with out the belongings so as to add expertise at a number of positions. It’s a recipe for an additional down yr, a return to drafting excessive within the Prime 10, and one other reset. That’s what the staff ought to do with the 2023 NFL Draft already on the horizon, however the entrance workplace appears destined to not settle for that actuality.
Garoppolo would immediately make the Panthers higher. There may be completely little question about it. With a returning Christian McCaffrey (assuming he stays wholesome), the inflow of free brokers, and a strong WR corps that couldn’t be utilized by Darnold in 2021, there’s each perception Carolina would take a step ahead — however there’s a particular ceiling in place, too. How a lot better might this staff actually get with Jimmy G, and what can be acceptable?
Would 8-9 be sufficient? Would 10-7? Is there any mixture of numbers that doesn’t simply end result within the Panthers making the playoffs after which working into an NFC buzzsaw like Tampa Bay, Los Angeles or San Francisco? I don’t assume so, and that’s what makes this state of affairs infuriating, due to what can be misplaced in a quest for a one-and-done playoff pyrrhic victory — particularly, the 2023 NFL Draft.
Take a look at different groups across the NFL with a dire want at QB. All of them perceive what’s coming across the nook. The Seahawks are content material enjoying Drew Lock, the Falcons are going to begin Marcus Mariota, the Steelers went with Mitch Trubisky, the Saints re-signed Jameis Winston. Why are these groups, particularly the Seahawks, Steelers and Saints, who’re inherently higher than Carolina, not making a deal for Garoppolo? They know he may make them too good.
The 2023 NFL Draft is the aligning of planets we see occur as soon as each handful of years the place quite a few promising quarterbacks are destined to hit the league on the similar time. It’s conceivable that as many as 5 quarterbacks are taken within the first spherical, with doubtlessly three going within the Prime 5 (Bryce Younger, C.J. Stroud, Spencer Rattler). Including Garoppolo to a 5-11 staff, because the Panthers is perhaps on the precipice of doing, would take them out of that vary. The one approach again in can be buying and selling appreciable future belongings to maneuver again right into a place they need to be in anyway, and kicking their issues down the street.
If the Panthers don’t imagine in Malik Willis or one of many quarterbacks in 2022, that’s advantageous. The response to this ought to be to play Sam Darnold, get by way of one other season, and maintain the expectation that they will discover a top-tier QB in a yr. Not that they need to rally round a deal for Jimmy Garoppolo, play for a wild card, then get trapped in passer purgatory for an additional three years. Garoppolo is the right bridge QB, and he carried out amazingly effectively for the 49ers final yr, however with the Panthers it might be like shopping for a bridge, and having no clue the place you’re constructing to, or what can be on the opposite facet.
Getting higher proper now on the expense of the long run shouldn’t be a luxurious Carolina has. No less than it’s not one in the event that they need to construct sustained success within the NFL. As a substitute it might be one other floundering transfer out of desperation, that hurts the long run, all within the hopes of incomes somewhat fan confidence. It could not be value it in the long term.
