Haynes King is heading into Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game with a simple message: he wants to be viewed as a quarterback first.
Not a package player. Not just a runner. A quarterback.
That was the point King drove home after the second day of rookie minicamp last spring, and he hasn’t backed off it since. “I feel like, in my confidence, that I can play quarterback at this level,” King said May 11. “My first goal is to make it as a quarterback.”
Now the undrafted rookie gets his first real chance to show that in game action when the Panthers meet the Arizona Cardinals in Canton, Ohio. Carolina’s starters will not dress for the preseason opener, and QB2 Kenny Pickett was expected to handle at least the opening series at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. After that, the spotlight shifts to the back end of the roster, where King is among the players trying to make the most of every snap.
Coach Dave Canales made it clear he sees value in this kind of stage. “These are valuable opportunities for all these guys fighting for these positions,” Canales said. “Whether it's (trying to make) the active roster or practice squad, just more game reps to be able to see what they can do and how they can take the game plan and make it come alive on the field.”
Offensive coordinator Brad Idzik will also be making his debut as the Panthers’ primary playcaller.
King’s path to this moment has already stood out inside Carolina’s building. The Panthers made a notable commitment to the former Georgia Tech standout after last April’s draft, agreeing to a three-year, $3.1 million deal with $250,000 guaranteed. For an undrafted player, that kind of investment says plenty about how the team views him.
It also explains why the Panthers are carrying only three quarterbacks. Most teams bring more into camp, but Carolina is down to that number after Will Grier retired last month and took a coaching job with the Dallas Cowboys.
King has the athletic profile to create problems in the right system, and Canales is clearly open to that kind of flexibility. At Tuesday’s training camp practice behind Bank of America Stadium, King was working with the third team during a seven-on-seven period. With the receivers not getting separation, he rolled out and seemed to have space to run, but instead forced an incomplete pass.
That moment fit the larger conversation around his game. King was known as a runner in college, where he piled up 3,904 total yards for the Yellowjacks as a senior, but Canales doesn’t want the quarterback’s value reduced to that alone.
“For my life, I just want the quarterback to move the chains and move the team,” Canales said. “Whatever that looks like, I'm good with it.
If he takes off and runs five times in a row and we're in the red zone knocking on the door, that's a great drive. If he goes five-for-five and completes the ball, finds an explosive and flips the field, I'm good with that too.
“So the fact that Haynes can do that is a great thing.”
Still, King’s own focus is on proving he can handle the position the way NFL teams demand it - working through progressions, getting the ball out on time, and operating smoothly from read to read.
“I felt like I've been developing pretty good,” King said Tuesday. “A lot of it is transitioning through progressions, whether it's second, third, or check down. You're moving smoothly through those and knowing where everybody's at, how things progress, and how fast things progress as well.
“I feel like you get better as a quarterback and your completion percentage gets up because you're finding the right guys at the right time and after that, it's just about accuracy.”
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