"Mayfield is the guy for Week 1" - Mike Florio believes Panthers are only pretending that Sam Darnold will become team's QB1

Has quarterback Baker Mayfield already won the starting job? It appears that way. The Carolina Panthers are expected to announce that the former Cleveland Browns quarterback has, in fact, won the starting job. He was just acquired by the team this offseason,

On his "Pro Football Talk Live" podcast, Mike Florio discussed the Carolina Panthers' decision to name the former Browns quarterback as the starter for Week 1 of the 2022 NFL Season. He said that, while he agreed with the decision, the Panthers tried to lead fans into believing that Sam Darnold had a chance at winning the starting job. Florio said:

"Three days later, Browns at the Panthers and, Chris, according to the Athletic.com, Baker Mayfield is expected to be named the week one starting quarterback for the Panthers. Look, this is a no-brainer...

"But they did a decent job of, at least, making us stop and think, 'Maybe there is a real competition. Maybe Sam Darnold can hold him off. Maybe the locker room continues to rally around Darnold without fully embracing Baker Mayfield.'

"But the hay apparently is close to being in the barn. Just a matter of time before they tell us that Mayfield is the guy for week one...

"Jake Delhomme says back in July that Darnold has the upper hand, and that's when people start thinking, Well, maybe, maybe there is going to be a competition here. And then there was see, that's the one thing. Well, then I have concerns about that now.

"They made him earn it, right? That's good. But he didn't get the chance to become as ensconced as he would have been if he was just taking all the first-team reps for all the training camp." - Pro Football Talk Live

Also Checkout:- Panthers Preseason Schedule

Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports also recently wrote about the potential quarterback battle that was brewing for the Carolina Panthers. He, too, agreed that, although the Carolina Panthers gave both quarterbacks the opportunity to split first-team reps during training camp, Baker Mayfield was already leading the way in the competition.

"Both Mayfield and Darnold did split first-team reps during camp, but it's been Mayfield who has pulled away. Last week, Rhule commended Mayfield's progress within the offense after just 10 days of training camp, calling it 'pretty impressive.'" -Tyler Sullivan

QB Baker Mayfield set to start Week 1 against Browns

With the announcement that Baker Mayfield is likely the starting quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, there's now talk about his opponent for the first week of the 2022 NFL season.

And it's none other than his former team, the Cleveland Browns. He and the Panthers will host the Cleveland Browns, who will be without their starting quarterback Deshaun Watson. On Thursday, it was announced that Watson will be suspended for 11 weeks. The Browns will have to go with one of their backup quarterbacks for the majority of the regular season.

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