After the Panthers completed their trade with the Bears for the first overall pick in this year’s draft, many people noted that their head coach Frank Reich has worked with a string of quarterbacks who are at least 6-3 during his time as the head coach of the Colts and previous assistant coaching stops.
That seemed to be a bad sign for Bryce Young’s chances of winding up as the top pick next month because he’s just 5-10, but General Manager Scott Fitterer said that the team hasn’t ruled anyone out during a press conference on Monday. Reich said the same when it was his chance to meet the media and referenced his feelings about another shorter quarterback.
“Don’t read anything into the fact, I had a high grade on Russell Wilson too,” Reich said, via Darin Gantt of the team’s website.
The Panthers have suggested that they’d be open to trading back down in order to recoup some of the assets they sent to the Bears, so it makes sense to keep every quarterback option in play even if the history points to the team going in a different direction.