When the Panthers traded up to select Matt Corral in the third round of this year’s draft, there was some thought that he could potentially compete to start as a rookie.
Now that Carolina has acquired Baker Mayfield, Corral appears slated to be the team’s third quarterback for his rookie season. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, according to General Manager Scott Fitterer.
While the G.M. did not call 2022 a “red shirt” season for Corral, the players in front of the former Ole Miss QB should help him develop.
“The one good thing for Matt, there is a transition for him from a college offense he was in to an NFL offense, especially a [Ben] McAdoo offense, where there’s a lot of verbiage,” Fitterer said, via Darin Gantt of the team’s website. “This will allow him the chance to really learn at his own pace, learn from a couple of veterans in that room in Sam [Darnold] and Baker, and having PJ [Walker] in that room as well.
“And when it’s time for him to get out there and play, he can get out there and earn that job if he’s ready. But it’s going to be on him to learn and play well when he gets there. Right now, our focus is to get all of our quarterbacks up to speed so we can play good quality football at that position.”
Corral threw for 8,287 yards with 57 touchdowns and 23 interceptions in college. He’s currently the only quarterback on the Panthers’ roster under contract for the 2023 season.