Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold would be the first pair of top-3 QBs to play for same team since 1980
Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold have an opportunity to do one thing no pair of quarterbacks has carried out in 42 years.
If each Mayfield and Darnold play a snap for the Carolina Panthers in some unspecified time in the future this season, they’re going to be the primary quarterbacks picked within the prime three of the identical draft to play for a similar staff in a single season since Jim Plunkett and Dan Pastorini did so for the then-Oakland Raiders in 1980, per Elias Sports and ESPN.
That yr, Plunkett took the Raiders all the way in which to a Tremendous Bowl XV win after taking up when Pastorini broke his leg in Week 5. Pastorini began the primary 5 video games of the common season after being traded from the Houston Oilers earlier than the 1980 season, whereas Plunkett had been the Raiders’ backup since 1978.
Plunkett and Pastorini had been each members of the 1971 draft class: Plunkett went No. 1 to the then-Boston Patriots whereas Pastorini was drafted No. 3 by the Oilers.
Plunkett was traded twice over the following 9 years earlier than touchdown with the Raiders as a backup and retiring there in 1986 with two Tremendous Bowl rings (he received his second in 1983). After 9 stable seasons with the Oilers, Pastorini was traded to the Raiders for Ken Stabler in 1980. He solely final a yr in Oakland, although, and solely performed two extra seasons within the NFL — seven video games for the Los Angeles Rams in 1980 and three video games for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1983.
The state of affairs that landed each Mayfield and Darnold in Carolina is just like the Raiders’, however the Panthers could be fortunate to take pleasure in the identical destiny.
Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold in Carolina
Just a little greater than 4 years in the past, Mayfield and Darnold had been taken with the Nos. 1 and three picks within the 2018 draft by the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets. However the Jets traded Darnold to the Panthers in 2021 after three unhealthy seasons in New York, whereas the Browns moved Mayfield for a conditional fifth-round pick after buying Deshaun Watson this offseason.
Darnold did not take pleasure in an excellent debut season in Carolina in 2021. He went 4-7 as a starter, missed 5 video games with a shoulder damage, threw 13 interceptions to only 9 touchdowns and was benched twice. He stays the Panthers’ starter — for now — however Mayfield might simply supplant him in coaching camp.
Whereas Darnold floundered in New York, Mayfield really progressed as a quarterback throughout his stretch in Cleveland. In 2020, Mayfield led the Browns to their first playoff win since 1994 and solely threw eight interceptions that season. A shoulder damage derailed his 2021 season, although, and the Browns struggled as soon as extra earlier than buying and selling a king’s random and paying a king’s payment for Watson.
What occurs subsequent is as much as Darnold and Mayfield, however their state of affairs in Carolina a minimum of provides an intriguing storyline for the remainder of the summer time.
