The Carolina Panthers fired Matt Rhule just five games into his third season as the organization's head coach. After another dismal start to the year, owner David Tepper had decided he'd seen enough, pulling the plug on the Rhule experiment. While it's a decision that made sense, it's also a very troubling sign for Baker Mayfield. Rhule's firing is just the latest in the coaching carousel experienced by Mayfield throughout his first five seasons as a pro. In fact, as pointed out by Jake Trotter, Mayfield is in line to play for his sixth head coach in five years following the Panthers' decision to fire Rhule.

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Since the Cleveland Browns drafted him with the first overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, there's been no sense of stability in terms of head coaching for the young quarterback. Hue Jackson was still installed as the Browns' head coach during Mayfield's rookie season, but he was replaced with Gregg Williams at the midway point of the season. In 2019, Freddie Kitchens took over as the Browns' head coach, but he was replaced before the 2020 campaign by Kevin Stefanski. Now with Rhule out as the Panthers HC, it's much of the same for Mayfield in Carolina.

Stefanski was Mayfield's longest-tenured head coach, having coached the 27-year-old in 2020 and 2021. The Panthers took a shot on Mayfield in 2022, but things haven't gone to plan. Baker Mayfield has been one of the worst quarterbacks in the league this season and the Panthers are off to a 1-4 start. With Rhule now out of the picture, Mayfield will once again have to get familiar with a new head coach. This time, it'll be even more important he turns things around, however, as free agency is looming and thus far his play hasn't warranted a starting job for him in 2023.