NFL Draft 2022: Panthers to host Malik Willis, Kenny Pickett and other top QB prospects on visits, per report

The Carolina Panthers are gearing up to make the rounds on the top quarterback prospects heading into the 2022 NFL Draft. The club will have Liberty’s Malik Willis, Kenny Pickett out of Pitt, Ole Miss’ Matt Corral, Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder, Sam Howell out of UNC, and Bailey Zappe of Western Kentucky in Charlotte next week for visits, according to The MMQB. Those visits will be staggered throughout the week beginning on Monday and running through Wednesday.

Carolina owns the No. 6 overall pick at this year’s draft, and quarterback is still a major hole on its roster. Sam Darnold is one of the two quarterbacks currently on the roster, as he is set to play the 2022 season on his fifth-year option that the Panthers picked up last year following a trade with the New York Jets. That option will pay Darnold more than $18.8 million fully guaranteed for the year. Meanwhile, P.J. Walker is other signal-caller on the roster. 

While the Panthers may have hoped that Darnold could be a long-term answer under center upon making that deal with New York, it never materialized. He went 4-7 in his 11 starts and completed 59.9% of his passes with a career-low 71.9 passer rating. Naturally, that performance during the 2021 season had Carolina looking elsewhere at QB this offseason. The team tried to enter the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes but was out of the running for his services in relatively short order. 

All that has the Panthers now going knee-deep into this year’s quarterback class to try and find someone who the franchise can build around over the long haul.