The Carolina Panthers have a glaring hole in their roster.
But unlike most roster questions this week – GM Marty Hurney and Head Coach Ron Rivera are openly discussing it as we head into the week of the draft, where everything said is either a smokescreen, a diversion or a flat-out lie.
While many pundits, fans and draft experts will spend this week focusing on the Panthers’ needs in the defensive secondary to improve a defense that spent the back half of the 2017 season among the bottom of the NFL’s defensive stat board or an interior lineman to replace Andrew Norwell or a retiring Ryan Kalil, a position that absolutely must be addressed before the Panthers head to Spartanburg for their annual training camp is someone to back up Cam Newton.
The backup quarterback spot that has been occupied by Derek Anderson, who has only thrown 168 pass attempts in the seven years he’s worn a Panthers uniform, for almost the entirety of Newton’s career is currently up for grabs as the Panthers only have Newton, 26 year old Garrett Gilbert and the newly signed Taylor Heinicke, who spent last season with the Houston Texans; Gilbert has never taken a snap and Heinicke has only a single pass attempt, which he completed. He may not get a chance to tarnish that 100% completion percentage in a Panthers uniform, as the Panthers are in talks to bring back Anderson, according to Marty Hurney and Ron Rivera.
However, they’ve been in those talks for a while.
“First and foremost, we’ve got to find out where D.A. is,” Rivera said almost two months ago at the NFL Combine. “Derek’s been a big part of what we’ve done. He’s really been kind of like having a coach in the meeting room and on the sideline. Hopefully, we’ll see how things work out. But there is an emphasis on that. It also may be time that we’ve got to start looking for that next guy, too. Bring D.A back, draft a young guy or sign a young guy and develop him, as well. We’ve got to start looking in that direction. But again, first and foremost we’ve got to see where D.A. is.”
Since D.A. hasn’t been signed as of yet, we can assume that the Panthers are kicking around the other options, mainly the idea of drafting a quarterback in this weekend’s draft; we can also assume that Anderson, who will be 35 when the 2018 season begins, has been enjoying his offseason playing golf instead of attending OTAs the past week.
“We are talking [and] have talked to Derek [Anderson],” said Hurney Tuesday. “But I think [that former Packers GM] Ron Wolf had a saying: he believed that in every draft you should take a quarterback, a young quarterback to develop; if he didn’t develop into a player for you, then he would have trade value. I think that every draft you look for those young quarterbacks, because that’s the position in this league that makes the most difference.”
“You’re always looking at quarterbacks in the mid-to-low rounds, now whether it works out that way, that’s how the draft works.”
Indeed, Hurney has a history of drafting quarterbacks in the mid-to-late rounds, although those selections haven’t always worked out. Do the names Randy Fasani, Stefan LeFors or Tony Pike inspire confidence in Hurney’s ability to pick up a future trade asset late in the draft? The Panthers worked out Memphis quarterback Riley Ferguson (he was one of the late-round selections in Zack Luttrell’s mock draft as well) and spoke to UVA prospect Kurt Benkert at the Combine; could either of them be in the mix for the backup position?
We’ll soon have clarity on the Panthers quarterbacking group – should the Panthers not select one this weekend in the draft, expect Derek Anderson to be receiving a phone call in the middle of a round of 18 next week.
I’ll prob get the call tonight then
— Derek Anderson (@DAnderson314) April 24, 2018
Or maybe earlier.
