Baker Mayfield expected to be named Panthers starting QB, Robbie Anderson has high praise

When the Carolina Panthers traded for Baker Mayfield in July, the assumption was that he would be named the starting quarterback come week one of the 2022 NFL season when the Panthers take on Mayfield’s former team – the Cleveland Browns. 

It appears those assumptions were correct as reports out of Carolina are that Mayfield will be named the starting quarterback for the start of the regular season, according to The Athletic.

Mayfield has been competing with 2018 first-round draft pick Sam Darnold, who Carolina traded for prior to the 2021 season. 

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The news of Mayfield as QB1 should be music to the ears of wide receiver Robbie Anderson, who recently praised his new quarterback for his confidence and leadership. 

“He’s smart,” Anderson told reporters on Tuesday. “He’s picked up the offense, like, rapidly. I like his energy a lot. I like that a lot about him. Like his leadership and his confidence.”

It’s a reversal from some of Anderson’s comments earlier in the year when he responded to an NFL Network report that the Panthers were interested in trading for Mayfield with a “Noooo” comment on Instagram. 

Anderson later deleted the post and explained that his comment was simply in defense of Darnold, a relationship that dates back to their days with the New York Jets. 

“What I was doing, that was in defense of Sam, you know what I’m saying?” Anderson said on the “I AM ATHLETE” podcast in July. “Because I feel like, at the end of the day, me and Sam do have chemistry, but it’s like I gotta start all over again, you know what I’m saying? It wasn’t no disrespect to him. It was really in defense of who my quarterback is right now.”

Mayfield received the starting nod in Carolina’s first preseason game against the Washington Commanders, completing 4 of 7 seven passes for 45 yards.