Carolina Panthers To Give Starting QB Duties Back To Baker Mayfield

The Carolina Panthers will change it up in Week 11 according to interim head coach Steve Wilks with Baker Mayfield getting back the starting quarterback role.

This came after P.J. Walker, who started for the Panthers in their last five assignments suffered a high ankle sprain.

Carolina is set to face the Baltimore Ravens in a Week 11 road game.

Walker incurred the injury during the Panthers' game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Although he finished the game, an MRI done after the game showed the damage, per a report from Panthers.com.

With Walker sitting on the sidelines, Mayfield will pick up from Walker with Sam Darnold serving as backup.

Ironically, it will be the first time that a 25-year-old will be active for a game this NFL season as je missed the first nine weeks and was on the injured reserve.

Darnold has been activated ahead of the win over the Falcons.

For Mayfield, it will be interesting if he is good to go.

He injured his ankle, a reason why the Panthers turned to Walker for quarterbacking duties.

Mayfield did replace Walker in the second half of the Panthers' game against the Cincinnati Bengals in a Week 9 loss.

This forced the hand of Wilks to revert to Walker in their game against Atlanta.

The 27-year-old Texas native struggled in his first few games with the Panthers after moving to Carolina from the Cleveland Browns.

He only had a 15.3 Total QBR, something that resulted in a 1-4 start this 2022-23 NFL season.

In addition, Mayfield had four interceptions and four touchdown passes in that stretch.

But heading into their game against the Ravens, Wilks stressed what Mayfield has to do–"protect the football."

The Panthers have established a solid running game anchored on D'Onta Freeman.

They have rushed for a season-high 232 yards against Atlanta and have averaged 159.5 yards rushing the past four games since trading star back Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers.

"Everything starts up front," Wilks said. "We've got to do a great job of really establishing the run game, and when we do pass, we've got to do a great job of giving him a clean pocket so he can go through his progressions and get the ball down the field."