For yet another season, the Panthers are facing uncertainty at the quarterback position. Still, offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo believes there's reason to be excited about what the team has at the position in 2022.
McAdoo came into Panthers training camp with an open mind about the quarterback competition. He was eager to see Sam Darnold and the newly acquired Baker Mayfield compete with one another.
Thus far, he has been impressed with the effort each is putting in as they try to stake their claims to the starting job.
"Those guys are out there battling. They're out there competing," McAdoo said of Carolina's quarterbacks at a news conference Tuesday.
We want to give everybody an opportunity to go out there and put their best football on tape, and we'll let it play itself out.
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McAdoo declined to comment on whether Darnold or Mayfield had emerged as a leader in the team's quarterback battle, joking that he "left his crystal ball in his other pants."
However, he did express optimism about the position as a whole and explained that he believes the competition will help Darnold and Mayfield — provided that it remains friendly.
As long as we don't resort to cannibalism, I think we have a chance to get out of this pretty good. They're both going to be better players after we come out of camp and playing really good football. We're just going to let it play itself out. I think the worst thing you can do is rush to a decision. Just have some patience.
Well, that's one way to put it.
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Cannibalism references aside, McAdoo believes that both Darnold and Mayfield are working well together. In fact, he has been impressed with the way each has handled the competition and not let it get in the way of building chemistry within the quarterback room.
"Up until this point, when you walked in the room, you didn't know if it was going to be a cold, dark room or what kind of room is going to be," McAdoo explained. "But it's certainly not. It's a room where these guys are open, and they have conversations and help each other out. They encourage each other. It has been really good to see. They've been pros. That's what you want."
McAdoo has had more time working with the likes of Darnold, Matt Corral and PJ Walker to date because Mayfield didn't join the Panthers until he was traded on July 6. Even still, he believes that the 27-year-old quarterback has been "pretty impressive" since joining the Panthers at training camp.
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And more than anything else, McAdoo has been impressed with Mayfield's natural leadership.
One of his strengths is command. He can lead a room, he can command a room, he can command an offense. He has a good presence about him. And, you know, he's got a fire in his guts.
It remains to be seen whether Mayfield's skill in this area will sway McAdoo to give him command of Carolina's offense. Either way, it seems that any negative views McAdoo held about Mayfield are now even further into the rearview mirror.