Baker Mayfield: Carolina Panthers HC discusses QB's future 'moving forward' after loss

Baker Mayfield’s spot in the Carolina Panthers offense appears to be safe for the time being, despite the return of Sam Darnold to the fold. 

The Carolina Panthers have struggled to find a franchise quarterback in recent years, arguably not having a solid option at the position since the glory days of Cam Newton when he took them to a 15-1 record back in 2015, and this year was meant to be the one to change all of that.

They traded for Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, someone who is used to turning franchises around, as he played a big part in taking the Browns from 1-31 in the two years before he arrived into a playoff team and even a Super Bowl contender in some people’s eyes.

When you add in his skillset and leadership into a talented offense that boasts the likes of Christian McCaffrey, D.J Moore and Robbie Anderson, the signs were there that the Panthers could compete in a very weak-looking NFC South. 

However after four games, that hasn’t proved to be the case.

The Panthers are currently 1-3, and Mayfield hasn’t exactly proven himself to be the great saviour at the quarterback position that they might have hoped he would be. He is currently completing 54.7% of his passes, which ranks 30th in the NFL among qualified quarterbacks, 27th in yards with 747 and joint-26th in yards per attempt with 6.4.

Numbers like that might warrant a few questions when it comes to the quarterback position, and with last season’s option Sam Darnold now back from injured reserve, that gives head coach Matt Rhule the chance to make a change at the position and go back to where they were last season.

However, it appears as though that isn’t going to be the case just yet.

Speaking after their recent loss to the Arizona