Carolina Panthers quarterback Haynes King put an on all-time performance in his one and only preseason game of the summer. But that might not be enough to get the rookie onto the team's initial 53-man roster.
Head coach Dave Canales hit the lectern on Friday night, following Carolina's 16-13 win in their preseason finale against the Houston Texans. Among the players brought up during talk of upcoming roster cuts was King, who has not been on the playing field since his heroic offering in the Hall of Fame Game earlier this month.
That limited showcase, as Canales would tell reporters, will cloud the outlook on King.
"It makes it really difficult—because he had a great game, in the Hall of Fame Game," he stated of the evaluation process. "And I would've
loved to have Haynes get some opportunities throughout the preseason and different situations—throwing him in there earlier in the game and seeing how he responds. We just don't have the benefit of having that available to us."
King, an undrafted free-agent addition from the spring, made his NFL (preseason) debut back on Aug. 6. He'd come on in relief of backup Kenny Pickett, and proceeded to throw for 180 yards and score three touchdowns—including the walk-off 5-yard rush—in a wild 33-30 win versus the Arizona Cardinals.
That game-clinching run, however, caused a hamstring injury for King—a setback that has kept him sidelined for the past three weeks.
But as Canales adds, King's touch of exposure is only one of a handful of hard choices he and his staff will face this weekend.
"Talk about AJ Dillon, who had a great camp," he said. "How do you keep three quarterbacks? Four running backs? How do you keep all these No. 7 receivers, 8 receivers that we're talking about. The loaded tight end room of guys that we trust. So, yeah, we got our work cut out for us in the next couple of days."
Teams must trim down their rosters to 53 players by 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Canales noted that he expects the Panthers to begin their cuts on Saturday.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers facing 'difficult' decision on fan-favorite QB ahead of roster cuts
