The Panthers have signed quarterback Kyle Allen, who was an exclusive rights free agent, to a one-year contract, the team announced Tuesday morning – the Panthers will bring back the 24-year old quarterback who started 12 games last season to compete in training camp with current quarterbacks Cam Newton and 2019 third-round pick Will Grier.
Any player with fewer than three accrued seasons and an expired contract is considered an exclusive rights free agent and once the Panthers offered Allen a one-year contract and the league minimum salary, Allen was not able to negotiate with other teams – effectively, the Panthers had the right of first refusal with a quarterback who started 3/4 of the season last year, which made this move to bring in Allen, if for nothing else but to compete for a backup spot, an easy decision for Matt Rhule and Marty Hurney.
The Panthers had already tendered offers to ERFAs Efe Obada, Joey Slye, Reggie Bonnafon and Cole Luke.
After signing as an undrafted free agent out of college in May of 2018, Allen originally spent a week on the Panthers’ practice squad before spending almost two months working out for teams and trying to hook on with a franchise before being re-signed to Carolina’s practice squad in late October and being elevated to the active roster when Newton sat out the final two games of the season due to a shoulder injury. After Taylor Heinicke suffered an injury in Week 16, Allen made his NFL starting debut in New Orleans and led the Panthers to their first win in almost two months, a 33-14 win over the New Orleans Saints in which the UDFA’s 228 yards passing and three total touchdowns impressed Ron Rivera’s coaching staff and led to him competing with third-round pick Will Grier, along with Heinicke, in 2019’s training camp to be Newton’s backup.
Allen was the seventh rookie quarterback with a start in Panthers history.
The former Texas A&M and Houston product beat out Grier to be the #2 quarterback behind Newton and when Newton re-aggravated the Lisfranc injury that he injured during the preseason, Allen was thrust into the starting lineup, where he led the Panthers to four straight wins, including a dominating debut in Arizona where he throw for 261 yards, four touchdowns, zero interceptions and a passer rating of 144.4 – the second-highest in a single game in franchise history.
But although he was deemed by some in the media to be the quarterback of the future for the Panthers, the wheels came off for Allen as the season wore on.
After throwing for nine touchdowns against four interceptions as the Panthers won five of his six starts, he would throw 12 interceptions and only eight scores as the Panthers dropped six consecutive games before Allen was eventually benched for Grier. Rivera, who insisted throughout the season that Allen gave his team the best chance to win once Newton was unavailable and continually talked about his growth throughout the season, was fired with four games left in the 2019 campaign.
Allen finished the season with 3,322 yards passing, 17 touchdowns, 16 interceptions and a passer rating of 80 in 13 games – he also rushed 32 times for 106 yards while losing seven fumbles. He also ranked as one of the worst deep passers in the league.
The new coaching staff, led by Matt Rhule and offensive coordinator Joe Brady, will see what they have between Allen, Newton, who is still recovering from foot surgery in December, and Grier, who played in two games last season and completed 53.8% of his passes for 228 yards and four interceptions without throwing a touchdown, currently on the roster with free agency and the draft upcoming.
Allen can be released or traded without a cap hit in 2020.
