The Carolina Panthers appear to have made a decision when it comes to who will start between Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold.

The Carolina Panthers are a team who need a little bit of a spark in order to bring them back to life as a franchise. Having enjoyed years of prosperity under former league MVP Cam Newton, winning the NFC South in three consecutive years between 2013-15, reaching the Super Bowl with a 15-1 record, they have enjoyed just one winning season and trip to the playoffs since then.

The past three years have seen them win five games in each of them, even with the added benefit of an extra game last season, as they have finished 4th, 3rd and 4th in the NFC South, when even the return of Newton last year wasn’t enough to get them out of trouble.

Since 2019, six different men have played the position of quarterback: the aforementioned Newton, Kyle Allen, Will Grier, Teddy Bridgewater, P.J Walker and Sam Darnold, but to no avail. As a result, this past offseason they traded for Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, giving up a conditional 4th-round pick to get him.

Mayfield looks to work his magic

Mayfield had done a pretty good job when it came to helping turn the Browns around as an organisation, taking them from going 1-31 in the two seasons before he arrived to taking them to the playoffs back in 2020 and generally being considered far more competitive than they were previously.

Whether or not he’ll be able to work the same magic here though is another question. He certainly has the weapons to make it happen, with arguably the best dual-threat running back in Christian McCaffrey out of the backfield, as well as D.J Moore and Robbie Anderson out wide.

And now it seems as if he is going to be given that shot.

Being handed the reins

According to reporter Jeff Howe, Mayfield has won the battle to take over the starting role at Bank of America Stadium ahead of Darnold, and it’s just a matter of time until the team makes the announcement official:

This might seem like the obvious route this was going, but seeing as Darnold has experience with the offense from last season, it may well have been the case that Darnold started the season and Mayfield took over later on, similar to how he took over from Tyrod Taylor in Cleveland. 

But now it looks as if it’s Mayfield’s job to lose, and now we wait and see what he’ll be able to produce with it.