Matt Corral feels immediate 'comfort' with Carolina Panthers

With some of the draft’s biggest quarterbacks falling late into the second day of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Steelers, Saints, or any other organization in need of quarterback services all passed up on former Ole Miss star Matt Corral in the first round. Corral had to wait until nearly the end of day two to hear his name called by the Panthers, and it’s already a perfect fit.

“I was a fan of coach [Ben] McAdoo when I finally got to meet him and spend time with him when we were eating lunch,” Corral said from his hotel in Las Vegas. “I’m excited to get back to Carolina and start to work. Really, because I was nervous at first, and he noticed that, and called me out on it. Then there was a comfort there. Him understanding I was already nervous and calling me out on it was kind of comforting. He knew it.

“I felt like it was a place I’d end up for sure.”

There were reports between the Panthers and Cleveland Browns, where the two organizations were reportedly having “active talks” about a trade regarding Baker Mayfield, but the addition of Corral nipped those talks in the bud almost immediately.

After drafting Corral, Panthers head coach Matt Rhule recalled the moment from the Sugar Bowl when Corral went down with his ankle injury and how his teammates reacted to it. Rhule knew that was the kind of player he wants to lead his team.

“I think you can go back to the bowl game and you watch when he gets hurt, and you watch every single guy on that field when he comes back out onto the field,” Rhule said. “I’m talking about trainers, I’m talking about running backs, I’m talking about D-linemen, they all come over to him.

“One of the benefits in my life is when I go into some of these schools, there are kids that I recruited. I sat in their houses, I talked to them. I had a chance to talk to them, and I had the chance at Ole Miss to talk to some kids that I recruited, and there is not one of them that wouldn’t say, ‘Hey, your whole team is going to love him.’ That’s a big part of this position. There is a lot of stress. There is a lot of pressure. There are a lot of accolades. Every guy on the team has to believe the quarterback wants to put them first. He did that at Ole Miss.”