Carolina Panthers must draft a quarterback because Kyle Allen ain’t it
The Carolina Panthers appear on track to part with Cam Newton but Kyle Allen isn’t the long-term answer either. They must draft a quarterback in 2020.
Kyle Allen has been better as the starting quarterback for the Carolina Panthers than many could have ever predicted. When Cam Newton was ruled out starting after Week 2, the backup came in and has kept the Cats in the playoff mix since coming in. On Sunday, however, we saw the worst of the signal-caller.
Against a Falcons team that had just two wins coming into Week 11, Allen has bar-none the worst game of his career. Going 31-of-50 for 325 yards with no touchdowns is fine but Allen threw four interceptions against Atlanta, leading the way for the Falcons to win handily, 29-3, in Carolina on Sunday.
It should be said that the Falcons have been playing better over the past two weeks than they have at any point this season. At the same time, every potential wart that would worry Panthers fans about Allen moving forward.
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He was rattled under pressure and, when faced with a defense playing well, he couldn’t make enough plays to even keep his team competitive. This was even with running back Christian McCaffrey rushing for 70 yards on 14 carries and taking 11 receptions for 121 yards, doing his part.
The prevailing notion since Newton was put on IR is that his time in Carolina is over. The Panthers could save roughly $20 million by releasing or trading Newton ahead of the 2020 season and many would take a chance on the former NFL MVP as he recovers from a Lisfranc injury. And at the moment, that still might not be a bad course of action.
However, if that is the route that Carolina plans to proceed, they can’t roll with Kyle Allen as their quarterback of the future. They need to be aggressive in the 2020 NFL Draft in selecting the guy to be their franchise signal-caller.
This 2020 draft class has been lauded for being rich at quarterback, which remains the case even given the uncertain future of Tua Tagovailoa following a devastating hip injury. LSU’s Joe Burrow, Oregon’s Justin Herbert, Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts, Washington’s Jacob Eason, Georgia’s Jake Fromm and even Utah State’s Jordan Love all have enticing tools as potential NFL quarterbacks.
Given Carolina’s current positioning as a 5-5 team, they are not likely to land a player like Burrow or Herbert (or Tagovailoa, depending on his long-term outlook) given a plethora of quarterback-needy teams.
Having said that, the other options could still be great fits for the Panthers, particularly a player like Hurts, whose tools would seemingly make him an A+ version of what they’ve had success with in Allen. The key, though, is that Carolina must be aggressive in securing a quarterback they believe is their guy.
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General manager Marty Hurney has been maligned at times but has done a fine job overall since taking back over that post. The quarterback situation, though, will be his defining moment. If the organization is dead-set on moving on from Newton, Hurney and the front office must get someone in the building that is simply a more suitable option than Allen for the long term. Anything else would be setting the franchise up for mediocrity or worse.