CHARLOTTE (CHARLOTTE SPORTS LIVE) — With the last game of the season right around the corner, we wanted to take a look at some players from the 2022-2023 Panthers roster who are not on this year’s team and how they’re doing.
Honorable Mentions
Let’s start with some honorable mentions — notable players and coaches who were in Carolina before the 2022 season and are now in different situations.
- Stephon Gilmore: The Rock Hill native cornerback played in Carolina in 2021, two years after winning the AP Defensive Player of the Year award with the New England Patriots. Although he only played eight games with the Panthers due to injuries, he was still selected to the Pro Bowl. Since his time in Carolina, he spent one season with the Indianapolis Colts and now with the Dallas Cowboys. This will be his second straight season with 60+ tackles, which, previously, he only did during his rookie year with the Buffalo Bills in 2012.
- Ron Rivera: Tied for the longest tenure as a head coach in Carolina, Ron Rivera has been with the Washington Commanders since being fired by the Panthers in 2019. It’s widely speculated that this will be Rivera’s last year with Washington. This will be the team’s third straight year missing the playoffs and have had a losing record in each of Rivera’s four seasons as the head coach.
- Graham Gano: The former Panthers’ kicker is now with the New York Giants, however, he’s been out since the beginning of November with a left knee injury that required surgery. Gano has a career-low 64.7% field goal completion rate this year, however, his first season with the Giants in 2020 was a career-best at 96.9%.
- Matt Rhule: The 2022 Panthers’ head coach is now the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Although they had a 5-7 record in his first year, it’s tied for the most wins in seven seasons.
Christian McCaffery
There are not enough good things to say about the NFL’s leading rusher in 2023. McCaffery is sitting out week 18 due to a lingering injury, but it won’t matter because he has more than 300 rushing yards than the player behind him.
According to FanDuel, McCaffery currently has the fifth highest odds to win the NFL’s Most Valuable Player Award, something a running back hasn’t done since Adrian Peterson in 2012.
CMC will finish the season with career-highs in rushing yards (1,459), rushing yards per attempt (5.4), rushing yards per game (91.2), and total touchdowns (21).
The 2022 trade sent McCaffery to the Panthers in exchange for the 49ers’ second, third, and fourth-round picks in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in the upcoming 2024 draft. The second-round pick went to the Bears (who then traded it to the Jaguars) as part of the trade to get Bryce Young, and the other two 2023 picks went to the Steelers when the Panthers traded up 13 spots in the third-round to select Oregon linebacker DJ Johnson.
Christian McCaffery is also teammates again with Sam Darnold, who is the 49ers’ backup quarterback. Darnold went 8-9 across the 2021 and 2022 seasons in Carolina.
DJ Moore
DJ Moore, a big part of the haul that went to the Chicago Bears as part of the trade for the first overall pick in 2023, is having a career year. It’s certainly tough to watch a good, young receiver thrive on another team when the Panthers desperately needed wide receiver help for Bryce Young and the offense.
With one game to go, Moore is top-10 in receiving yards with 1300, already 100 more yards than any season in Carolina. He needs just one catch to tie and two to pass his career-high (currently 93) for a single season.
Moore also has career-bests in receiving touchdowns (8), scrimmage yards (1,321), and catch percentage (70.8%. That ranks top-20 in the NFL among receivers with a minimum of 1.875 receptions per team). DJ Moore has put together a great campaign for what could be his first career Pro Bowl appearance.
Baker Mayfield
And now the reason for writing this is Baker Mayfield, who makes his return to Bank of America Stadium in week 18 as the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The 2018 AP Rookie of the Year had a rough 2022 season with the Panthers. He had a 1-5 record with six interceptions across six starts. In those games, Mayfield also posted a career-low 57.8 completion percentage.
Since joining the Bucs, an NFC South rival, Mayfield rejuvenated his career. With one game left, the Bucs are 8-8 and can clinch the division title and a home playoff game with a win against the Panthers on Sunday. Mayfield also has put up career bests in completion percentage (64.4%), passing yards (3,907), and passing touchdowns (28).
Mayfield returns to Carolina as he tries to lead the Bucs back to the playoffs for the fourth straight year. The game starts at 1 p.m. on Sunday and you can watch all the action on Queen City News.
