Panthers reportedly looking at top pick … There are several conflicting stories coming out of Carolina re the Panthers’ QB situation. New head coach Matt Rhule said yesterday at his combine presser that he fully expects incumbent starter Cam Newton to be with the team in 2020. There has been speculation that the Panthers, with a new management team in place, could look to move on from the enigmatic Newton who played in just two games in 2019 because of a foot injury. However, the feeling around the league is that the Panthers won’t make any final decision on Newton’s status until he’s cleared to start working out again. At this time, though, there doesn’t appear to be anything near a firm date for Newton to be fully recovered from the injury. At the same time, there are several unconfirmed internet-based reports suggesting that the Panthers could be interested in trying to acquire the #1 pick overall in this year’s draft from Cincinnati in order to select LSU QB Joe Burrow. and it certainly makes sense that the Panthers might like to head in a new direction at QB. They broke the bank to hire Rhule, arguably the ‘hottest’ coach in football this off0season and then stole rising offensive co-ordinator Joe Brady away from LSU where, of course, he coached the aforementioned Burrow. Any such move by the Panthers will be complicated by the fact that they don’t currently have a ton of capital to make the move up from the 6th pick. Carolina could add some draft assets, though, by trading Newton, but they can’t do that until he passes his physical.
Meanwhile, in an interesting development, Miami G.M. Chris Grier would not rule out trading up to the #1 pick when asked about it at his combine presser yesterday saying that the Dolphins ‘we’re wide open to everything.’ Of course, this isn’t the first mention of some such interest on the part of the Dolphins who are desperate to finally resolve their QB issues and have more draft capital than any team in the league. Indeed, the Dolphins currently have 14 picks at the 2020 draft including three first rounders and two more in the second, as well as extra picks in both the first and second rounds in 2021. The consensus around the league seems to be that Cincinnati is still more than likely to stay at #1 and keep Burrow for themselves, but they could ultimately be tempted to move the pick if they get an offer too good to refuse, especially if Burrow continues to be somewhat lukewarm about playing for the Bengals. Stay tuned!
