The Carolina Panthers were dealt a scare on Friday night as backup QB Sam Darnold left their preseason game on a cart after twisting his ankle. It's been diagnosed as a high-ankle sprain, which is certainly not the worst-case scenario.
After further testing on Saturday, Darnold is expected to miss 4-6 weeks of action, per Ian Rapoport:
Sam Darnold is expected to be out 4-6 weeks, sources say. He’ll get a second opinion to be sure. Considering what it looked like, not a bad outcome. https://t.co/t11s5kbEl7
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 27, 2022
This is honestly not that bad for Sam Darnold. Just looking at how the injury occurred, it looked much more serious:
Sam Darnold was taken off the field on a cart after suffering a nasty-looking injury on this play.
Prayers up 🙏🏽pic.twitter.com/MLfFYcLD37
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) August 27, 2022
That timetable puts him on track to return towards the end of September/beginning of October. Of course, Darnold just lost the starting job to Baker Mayfield, who was named QB1 earlier in the week. However, there isn't much depth behind Mayfield now. Rookie Matt Corral is out for the year with a Lisfranc injury, while Darnold is now missing time, too. PJ Walker is the lone backup at the moment but he did get some snaps last year, so he's not exactly inexperienced.
Sam Darnold didn't have a great first season in Carolina in 2021, completing just 59.9% of his passes and throwing more interceptions (13) than touchdowns (9). Nevertheless, the hope is Darnold can get healthy sooner rather than later and give Panthers head coach Matt Rhule another decent option if Mayfield struggles. Because, the truth is, this could be the last straw for Baker as a starter in the NFL if he doesn't come through. There is a reason the Browns gave him up and brought in Deshaun Watson instead.
Best wishes to Darnold in his rehab.
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