Former Panthers head coach Matt Rhule claims that Brock Purdy could be in Carolina right now, if only Rhule had had his way in the Panthers’ draft room in 2022.
Rhule, who is now head coach at Nebraska, says that he knew Purdy well from coaching against him when Rhule was at Baylor and Purdy at Iowa State. Rhule says that in the 2022 draft, he wanted the Panthers to consider Purdy in the pre-draft process, only to be told the team wouldn’t be drafting him.
“I think Brock Purdy is an amazing player, played against him at Iowa State,” Rhule said. “When I was in the draft room at Carolina, I brought his name up. I said he should be on the draft board. I got vetoed on that one.”
Purdy started for Iowa State against Rhule’s Baylor teams twice. As a freshman, Purdy led Iowa State to a win over Rhule’s Baylor team. In Purdy’s sophomore year Baylor won, but Purdy threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns in the loss. So it wouldn’t be surprising if Rhule thought highly of Baylor from their games against each other.
Rhule didn’t say who overruled him about drafting Purdy, but it would have had to be either then-General Manager Scott Fitterer or Panthers owner David Tepper. The Panthers certainly missed on Purdy, but every team missed on the quarterback who has gone from Mr. Irrelevant to the Super Bowl.
