Per a report by ESPN’s Dianna Russini, the Carolina Panthers will sign Houston Roughnecks star QB P.J. Walker. This happened within two hours of the XFL to NFL signing period beginning.
This was quickly confirmed by multiple NFL sources.
Walker finished his stellar XFL season undefeated as he and the Houston Roughnecks went 5 – 0. His stats through 5 games were 119-of-184 (65%), 1,338 yards, 15 passing TD, 4 INT.
New Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule was Walker’s coach at Temple from 2013-16. So they have a familiarity with each other’s style. Rhule was formerly the head coach at Baylor University and Temple University before landing in the NFL.
Russini on went on to say
This does not mean Walker is a lock to be the starting QB. Cam Newton is on his way out however the Panthers signed former Saints back up QB Teddy Bridgewater to a new 3-year deal.
According to PFT;
Bridgewater’s three-year deal with the Panthers pays out $63 million. Of that amount, $33 million is fully guaranteed.
Pro Football Talk
If we get an NFL pre-season, it will be interesting to see how the starting QB battle plays out between Bridgewater and Walker. No word yet on terms of Walker’s new contract.
In Houston, this leaves June Jones Roughnecks with Connor Cook as their starting QB going into the 2021 season. Cook was the first player taken by Houston in the phase 1 portion of the 2020 XFL draft.
UPDATE:
Follow our XFL to NFL player tracker for all the latest NFL player signings.
Brent
March 26, 2020 at 4:57 pm
Walker’s deal doesn’t sound that great considering Bridgewater is guaranteed 20 times the amount.
Aren’t the top guy is XFL making around $500,000? I’m sure he’s happy to triple what he could pull down in the XFL next year, but I am not impressed