SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Sam Darnold has not been in a true quarterback competition since the summer of 2016.
The then-18-year-old Southern Cal kid battled a Trojan quarterback room of future NFL QB Cody Kessler and his blue-chip backups, Max Browne and Ricky Town.
Darnold and the rest of the Carolina Panthers arrived at Wofford College on Tuesday to report for training camp, which starts Wednesday morning. Darnold said there are lessons from 2016 that he’ll lean on.
“I was in a quarterback competition in college. ... (Kessler) ended up winning the job, and then I ended up stepping in, I think the fourth game of the season. We went on to win some games and had a good year after that,” Darnold said as he stood outside Jerome Johnson Richardson Hall. “The biggest thing is remaining constant and consistent in my attitude and what I do on the field.”
USC ripped off nine straight wins, going 9-1 with Darnold. As a redshirt freshman, he led a comeback win over No. 5 Penn State at the Rose Bowl, where he threw for 453 yards and five touchdowns.
The NFL isn’t college. Darnold is competing with former Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, not Kessler. Darnold’s college quarterback competition and his new one aren’t similar. Aside from the fact that he will not be handed the starting quarterback job for only the second time in his football career.
If Darnold’s new reality is bothering him he isn’t showing it. He arrived in Spartanburg cool, calm, and collected, rocking a bright smile, a simple black T-shirt, and a matching black hat. Speaking publicly for the first time since minicamp, he said it took him a few days to decompress before calling Mayfield after the Panthers traded a conditional fifth-round pick for the former Browns quarterback earlier this month.
“Me and Baker are cool. I’m sure when things start rolling in training camp, it’s just gonna be fun. We’re gonna be able to compete and have fun with it,” Darnold said. “But at the end of the day, this is a business and we both take our craft and what we do very seriously. So it’s going to be very serious when that time comes to compete, but off the field, and all that stuff, me and Baker are really cool.”
Darnold said he considers him and Mayfield both as starting quarterbacks. A humble admission considering Darnold dominated QB1 reps during nine weeks of OTAs and minicamp and took an early command over new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo’s offense.
But Darnold understands his reality. The team that traded for him just 15 months ago exhausted every possible quarterback solution this offseason after Darnold went 4-7 as a starter, battled injuries, and threw more interceptions than touchdowns for a second consecutive season. Carolina explored trading for Russell Wilson (there were never any real conversations with Seattle), courted (and lost) Deshaun Watson, and even drafted Matt Corrall No. 94, all before acquiring Mayfield.
All that is enough reason for Darnold to be unhappy and request a trade. But he hasn’t. The team is not calling teams shopping Darnold either.
“I’m not in a position to do that and it is not who I am,” Darnold said about seeking a trade. “No.”
A Darnold trade becomes more likely if leaves camp as the No. 2 quarterback. A few solid preseason performances plus a random injury elsewhere could revive his market. That’s a lot of what-ifs, which is why Darnold is in a quarterback competition with Mayfield.
Coach Matt Rhule still is not ready to share how practice reps will be divided between his four quarterbacks. He spoke with media around noon on Tuesday and said he had not yet met with them to share the practice plan.
Rhule said the team plans on naming a starting quarterback by Week 1 against the Browns.
“Anytime you put timelines on things, you end up rushing to make bad decisions. To me, this is about very much being in the moment, and not making rash judgments,” Rhule said. “Whenever we know, we’ll know. ... It’s our job to not just pick a starting quarterback, it’s to make sure that we have four guys that can go in and win for us.”
Darnold called Mayfield a few days after the trade to invite him to a throwing session he organized for Panthers players in Charlotte last weekend. Christian McCaffrey, Chuba Hubbard, DJ Moore, and other Panthers skill players caught balls from Darnold, Mayfield, P.J. Walker and Corral.
McCaffrey — who is expected to have another light workload throughout camp — described the throwing sessions as fun. He said the new teammates learned more about each other over some meals and time on the lake before heading to camp.
“Those guys are professionals,” McCaffrey said. “They’re great players who have seen a lot in this league. They’re both hungry. Both have massive chips on their shoulder. And they’re going to compete with respect.”
Veteran D.J. Moore — fresh off signing a three-year, $61.884 million extension this offseason — has known Mayfield and Darnold since the pre-draft process in 2018. He said they won’t let competition complicate their friendship.
Moore said he thinks competition benefits everyone, not just quarterbacks. Rhule agreed. He said just because Taylor Moton is the undisputed starting right tackle does not mean he isn’t competing to have a better camp than the league’s best pass rushers. He, like Moore facing No. 1 cornerbacks, must have stronger camps than their league-wide competition.
“It boosts everybody’s competitiveness,” Moore said. “Every group is going to see the competition at the main spot, so all the competition is going to step up.”
