Ladies and gentlemen, football is so back. Well, almost. It is officially back this Thursday, with the annual Hall of Fame Game.
This year features the Arizona Cardinals going up against the Carolina Panthers, which figures to be an intriguing matchup for two teams looking to become consistently competitive in the NFL.
With the start of the preseason just days away, there are a lot of questions and storylines surrounding the upcoming one-game schedule this week. Here are just a few of them.
5 biggest storylines for Panthers-Cardinals Hall of Fame Game
1. Do any starters play?
Earlier this week, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette left practice with an injury. Head coach Dave Canales told the media that while his pass catcher did not sustain a concussion, he will not play on Thursday. Would that imply that the plan was to have Legette play before the injury?
No, no, it would not. Canales announced that none of the typical starters would be up and active for the game on Thursday. While that is a bummer, there are still a few training camp battles for the Panthers to sort out, so there is the potential for some competing players to have a short stint in the Hall of Fame Game.
Meanwhile, for the Arizona Cardinals, there are plenty of questions surrounding who is going to be starting at positions as well. For example, the team has yet to truly come out and say who is starting at quarterback in a convincing statement.
2. The quarterback room for the Arizona Cardinals
Yes, coach Mike LaFleur said Jacoby Brissett would be the guy during the spring, but when training camp began, Brissett ran the third-string offense. Suffice it to say, the Cardinals are a bit of a mess at the quarterback position. While the quarterback battle is raging onward, there might be some insight given on Thursday.
The Cardinals announced that rookie signal-caller Carson Beck would get the start on Thursday night. Who comes after him is anyone’s guess. What we know is that the Cardinals will rest both Gardner Minshew and Brissett, who are above Beck on the depth chart.
There is a lot of intrigue that comes with the decision of naming Beck the starter for this game. How many drives Beck receives could go a fair way in determining if this quarterback battle is between the veterans or if the rookie passer still has a shot. Meanwhile, there is further intrigue with another rookie for Arizona.
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