Lea: Rhule close to 'striking out' with the quarterback position
Posted October 28, 2021 8:14 p.m. EDT
Updated October 29, 2021 7:54 a.m. EDT
Since last Sunday's 25-3 loss to the New York Giants, plenty of Carolina Panthers fans have either tweeted, emailed or texted me something like this, "Cam is available, bring him back!"
As a fellow Panthers fan, there's nothing I would love more than to see Number 1 back on the field at Bank of America Stadium. The attendance would definitely increase along with the excitement. But the Panthers not protecting him in the first place is probably one of the major reasons why he, nor Ron Rivera are in Charlotte at the moment. The Panthers can barely protect Sam Darnold as it is and Cam does not deserve to come back to that.
We as Panthers fans are spoiled. For nine years we saw a literal 'Superman' of sorts at the quarterback position. No, Cam wasn't the most accurate passer and he could hang on to the ball too long at times, but seeing this man will this team to victory in games they shouldn't have won is missed from the QB position. The excitement he brought to Charlotte and making the Panthers look attractive instead of 'that expansion team between Washington and Atlanta' is probably what we all miss the most.
The Panthers didn't do right by Cam. He's the best quarterback in franchise history (not Sam Darnold like Terry Bradshaw once said) and he deserved to be treated better on his exit than what he was. The handling of his exit was the beginning of head scratching quarterback decisions made by Matt Rhule and company since he's come to Charlotte. Remember, they tried trading him, but ended up releasing him in late March of 2020, weeks after free agency began, after they couldn't secure a trade partner.
So from Cam, one of the flashiest players to hit the NFL in the last decade, to Teddy Bridgewater the Panthers went. Bridgewater is the complete opposite from Newton. Couple that with how Superman exited Carolina, the three-year $60 million contract Bridgewater was signed to and COVID-19 not allowing the new QB1 to ingratiate himself in the community, Panthers fans had it out for Teddy since day one.
Panthers owner David Tepper got a little too antsy to get rid of Bridgewater after the 2020 season, leading to the Panthers still owing him money and sending away much needed draft capital for a worse quarterback: Sam Darnold.
In the 2021 NFL Draft, the team opted to draft cornerback Jaycee Horn (who should turnout to be a great player for years to come) instead of drafting a left tackle or even what the team needs most, the quarterback of the future.
The Panthers offense has only scored two touchdowns in their last 26 drives. 26. For as much as Panthers fans didn't like Bridgewater, he didn't play as bad as Darnold showed us the past four weeks. But this isn't a 'pile on Darnold' session, we have to address the team's failure to identify the quarterback of the future or follow a solid plan to try to identify that since January 2020 when Rhule was hired.
Hindsight is 20/20 and Rhule has forgotten more football than I know, but he and his staff botched their quarterback search starting with releasing Cam Newton and following with giving up on Bridgewater too soon. Cam should have gotten a chance to play out his final contract year and probably would have won the team more than five games in 2020. A serviceable backup with plenty of NFL experience should have been signed to sit behind Cam, to give him some competition. That would have given the team time to identify their quarterback of the future in the 2021 NFL Draft making 2020 Cam's swan song in Charlotte. Instead, it seems like Rhule, Tepper and former Panthers GM Marty Hurney overthought the transition the team was going through and now have put the team in a hole.
Christian McCaffrey, Shaq Thompson and DJ Moore were the biggest names to return to Charlotte after the 2019 season which cut some of the excitement around the team in half. Luke Kuechly retired and Greg Olsen left the team, the least the team could have done was to keep Cam for one year then move on if things didn't work. Now the Panthers have a bad quarterback and are only picking once in the top 100 of the 2022 NFL Draft (for now) with a glaring need for another quarterback and some offensive linemen.
Rhule, the 'program builder', has done a great job re-building this defense, but he's already swung and missed on two quarterbacks. Hopefully he won't strike out.
