Ex-Jets QB, 18-Year Veteran Being Hired to Panthers Staff

Josh McCown, Sam Darnold

Getty A pair of former New York Jets quarterbacks chatting it up on the sideline of an NFL field.

A former New York Jets quarterback is making a transition to a new career.

The Carolina Panthers announced on Friday, February 10 that they’re hiring longtime NFL quarterback Josh McCown to their coaching staff.

According to the press release, McCown will serve as the Panthers’ quarterback coach.


Josh McCown Was Always Destined to Get Into Coaching

QB coach is a fitting first title for McCown’s journey into the coaching world.

The longtime NFL quarterback played 18 years in the National Football League on 12 different teams. That included a two-year stint with his new team the Panthers from 2008 through 2009.

He has done some coaching work at the high school level and created a lot of headlines with his head coaching interviews with the Houston Texans.

This is a much more natural progression for McCown if he has true aspirations to one day become an NFL head coach.

Start as an assistant put in some time and good work then eventually jump to the next level.

One of the things McCown already possesses for the job is natural leadership. He displayed that during his two-year tenure with the Jets from 2017 through 2018.

During that run, he appeared in 17 games and started in 16 of those contests. McCown threw for 3,465 passing yards, had a 19 touchdown to 13 interception ratio, and completed 64.5 percent of his passes.


Top Social Media Reactions to Josh McCown Getting Into Coaching

The first female scout in NFL history Connie Carberg congratulated McCown on getting into the coaching ranks and called him, a “great human, smart, [and] respected.”

One of the other things Connie mentioned was McCown’s relationship with Sam Darnold. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft by the Jets.

The pair spent a season together and now Darnold is in Carolina. He is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason but this new coaching hire could hint at a potential reunion.

A lot of clips have been shared from past McCown press conferences with the Jets that showed his emotion and passion for the game.

NFL reporter Mike Kaye highlighted his prior experience around McCown from 2019 when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles.

“He was admired by everyone in the locker room as a leader and teacher amongst his peers.”

Josh Norris called McCown a “gem” and that’s honestly the best way to describe him. He will never go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his accomplishments but McCown was often the glue of every NFL team he was a part of.

If the Panthers decide against bringing back Darnold or going after a big-name option, they could turn to the 2023 NFL draft.

Prior to McCown accepting this coaching role with the Panthers he participated in a football video series where he broke down quarterback tape.

In one of the episodes, he broke down Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud. During the breakdown, he compared the talented college passer to NFL superstar Joe Burrow.

McCown obviously didn’t know at the time of doing this episode that he would eventually get hired by an NFL team. Now that he has a lot of people are bringing up this footage and connecting the dots to the Panthers ahead of the 2023 draft.

Read More
,