If you didn’t think the Carolina Panthers have a single free agent worth keeping, then think again. (You’ll just have to set your “worth keeping” threshold at exactly 50 players.)
This week, former safety and ESPN staff writer Matt Bowen ranked the NFL’s top 50 free agents for the 2023 offseason. And coming in right at No. 50 is quarterback Sam Darnold.
Bowen writes:
Darnold could be targeted as a low-tier starter or as a high-end No. 2 on the market. In six starts this season, he completed 58.6% of his passes for 1,143 yards with seven touchdowns and three picks. He’s a good mover with arm talent and second-reaction ability. Yes, we still see Darnold’s limitations late in the down, where his decision-making can slip, but he’s still young. He could be an intriguing player for an offensive coordinator who wants to work with him.
Darnold was certainly intriguing this past season. The fifth-year veteran was given the rock beginning in Week 12, in what would eventually turn into a 23-10 win over the Denver Broncos.
From, there he’d help push the Panthers to three more victories in his next five starts—a run that also included a six-week stretch in which Carolina boasted the league’s most efficient passing offense. Darnold closed the 2022 campaign having completed 58.6 percent of his passes for 1,143 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions.
Whether or not the 25-year-old will factor into the Panthers’ plans moving forward is a question waiting to be answered. But thanks to that small resurgence, the former third overall pick has—at the very least—probably afforded himself an opportunity on someone’s roster this upcoming season.
