Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield and Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold have once again been linked to the benching of Carolina Panthers second-year quarterback Bryce Young.
Panthers head coach Dave Canales, the former offensive coordinator for the Bucs, decided to sit Young following last week’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
In 2022, Mayfield played just seven games with the Panthers before being released and claimed by the Los Angeles Rams. After the season, Mayfield became a free agent and landed a one-year contract with Tampa, which also signed Canales as the offensive coordinator. Mayfield and Canales spent the 2023 season together, and Canales went on to his current role as the head coach of the Panthers. Somehow, that translates into Mayfield, Canales, Young (and Darnold) being forever intertwined. Thank you, David Tepper.
As Joe Bucs Fan reported, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Mike Glennon, who started 18 games in his three years with the Buccaneers, is a regular guest on 99.9 The Fan in North Carolina, spoke about Mayfield and Darnold when asked about the benching of the Panthers rookie quarterback.
“Even with how well Sam and Baker are playing, those guys are not elite quarterbacks,” Glennon said of Mayfield and Darnold as the conversation about how it’s hard to evaluate quarterbacks continued. “They’re [Mayfield and Darnold] solid starters in the NFL, where they drafted Young to be elite, and he’s just not that,” Glennon concluded.
Whether you believe that Mayfield is elite, flirting with the line between solid and elite, or simply not sold, we can all agree that this continued comparison is odd and should probably end sooner rather than later.