Word of the Panthers’ interest in trading for Deshaun Watson shared space in the headlines with Sam Darnold’s benching on Sunday, so it was no surprise that their head coach Matt Rhule fielded questions about quarterbacks at his Monday press conference.
Rhule reiterated that the Panthers plan to start Darnold in Week Eight and acknowledged the report about Watson while saying that “you guys know that wasn’t from me.” He said he had nothing else to add while noting that tampering rules prevent him from talking about players on other teams even if he wanted to comment.
“What our team doesn’t need today is a distracted coach,” Rhule said, via David Newton of ESPN.com.
The Panthers offense has flatlined since running back Christian McCaffrey went down with a hamstring injury and Rhule said he doesn’t know that “anything that’s happened will be solved by any one move,” but it seems like the team has designs on another big move at quarterback before or after the November 2 trade deadline.