Baker Mayfield Saga Could Take New Turn in Carolina

Updated: Sep 10, 5:00pm UTC

At this point it's safe to say the Baker Mayfield experiment has been a disaster for the Carolina Panthers. Mayfield holds a 1-5 record as the starter with an abysmal 57.8 completion percentage. He lost his job to P.J. Walker, who seemed to give the team a boost.

Now with Walker injured, it's not Mayfield who will step into the starting role again, but Sam Darnold. The former New York Jets top pick arrived in Carolina last season and experienced similarly poor results in his lone season as the starter, but remained with the team and after nursing an injury to begin the year gets a chance to be the starter once again.

Depending on how Darnold looks, when Walker does return, this could be the end of Mayfield's time in Carolina.

He is set to be a free agent at the end of this season and he surely hasn't performed well enough to warrant a legitimate starting job in the NFL next season. Mayfield came to Carolina with the hope of proving to be the team's franchise QB, but that didn't happen.

With Walker showing he can be capable and rookie Matt Corral waiting in the wings, despite missing his rookie season due to injury, the need for Mayfield, even as a backup, no longer exists in the Queen City.

It's all a fluid situation and maybe Carolina keeps him solely for injury protection the rest of the year, but one way or another, it's clear the clock is ticking on Mayfield's time in Carolina.

The Panthers take on the Denver Broncos in Week 12, where they are a 2.5-point home underdog, according to FanDuel Sportsbook's latest NFL odds.

David Kaestle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username davekaestle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

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