The parking lot chronicles: How Haynes King and rookies are working to learn the Panthers playbook

May 09, 2026 at 02:59 PM

Kassidy Hill

Haynes King is seen as The Carolina Panthers hold Rookie Mini Camp on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at the Atrium Health Training Facility in Charlotte, NC.

CHARLOTTE — Friday afternoon, as the two quarterbacks taking part in the Carolina Panthers rookie minicamp walked out of the QB meeting room, it was with a directive.

Use that downtime to immerse yourself back in the playbook. Don't let a bad operation in practice keep them from taking advantage of this limited window during which they're in front of NFL coaches and scouts. So, Haynes King took the message to heart. He started sending texts to anyone he had a number for and instructed them to go around the hotel and find anyone else who could run through some offensive plays.

"It was kind of like a knock on the door, trying to find (people)," laughed King, sharing the story Saturday, after rookie minicamp concluded.

Within a few minutes, they had enough guys to simulate plays. A full offensive line, a tight end, three receivers, and a quarterback. They found an off-site parking lot between the stadium and the hotel where the participants are staying. There was enough room to walk through the plays so that it would work.

Haynes King and Sam Hecht are seen as The Carolina Panthers hold Rookie Mini Camp on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at the Atrium Health Training Facility in Charlotte, NC.

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"I mean, you got to get it where you get it," said receiver Chris Brazzell II, who was a part of the group.

It wasn't the only time the two put together impromptu walk-throughs this weekend.

"He's in the locker room, helped me go over to plays, talking the plays out for me, so he's a good leader," continued Brazzell of King. "A lot of people want to be great, so he decided he was like, 'Man, we go to the parking lot, go walk this.'"

But the parking lot was definitely where most of the work was conducted.

Armed with a new NFL playbook, the group went over the ones that had given them trouble during Friday's practice, polishing procedures and nailing down the correct play-calls.

Chris Brazzell II is seen as The Carolina Panthers hold Rookie Mini Camp on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at the Atrium Health Training Facility in Charlotte, NC.

"We had a couple of hard ones and wanted to be able to communicate and be able to operate at a high level when we went out there," explained King. "Sometimes when you hear them the first time, you play a little slow.

"(So), making sure you're going on the right tracks and kind of understanding what's going on, like if it was a pass play, I'm like, OK, this is what I'm seeing, or if it was an alert or something like that, like, 'Hey, if, the safety boils down, he's unblockable, or you know, this guy can't block him,' I'm alerted, like stuff like that."

It paid off. Coaches said they were able to get through everything on Saturday with a smooth operation, giving them the best possible look at the prospects.

It's also an example of one of the things the Panthers like about King as a backup prospect: his experience and maturity to lead.

The Georgia Tech passer was in college for six years; three at Texas A&M and three with the Yellow Jackets. Those latter three saw him lead GT to a 22-14 record, finish 10th in Heisman voting in 2025, throw for 2,951 yards and run for another 953 yards in 2025 alone, and score 29 touchdowns during that time, all of which led to him being named ACC player of the year.

At 25 years old, he's the oldest among the signed draft picks and UDFAs, and even older than Bryce Young (who will turn 25 in July). It begets a certain level of expertise that isn't always present in a rookie, and one which Dave Canales and staff appreciate.

"There certainly is, for the guys that we're seeing, 24 and 25 year olds coming out, and there's a maturity to them," said Canales. "There's a professionalism about how they handle their life inside the building and outside of the building, just kind of having their world in order.

"Haynes gives that feel, like he's a pro mentally speaking, and now the challenge is how quickly can we get him caught up in all of our schemes and concepts. All the different things at the line of scrimmage, and right now he's pouring himself into it, doing a great job."

Dave Canales and Haynes King are seen as The Carolina Panthers hold Rookie Mini Camp on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at the Atrium Health Training Facility in Charlotte, NC.

Added King, "The older you are, the more you get to experience, and sometimes maturity comes with age, and I feel like I'm pretty mature and I've seen a lot happen. So, I get to—when you experience it now, you're like, OK, I've seen this, or you might have even done this before, and you can learn off—nowadays you learn off of either seeing it or doing it, and that's a big part of the maturity."

As for what it all means for King moving forward, that remains to be seen. The Panthers will return next week for offseason workouts and for OTAs in two weeks. King will have that opportunity to further integrate himself into a QB room that now has four passers: Young, Kenny Pickett, Will Grier, and the rookie King.

Derrell Bailey and Haynes King are seen as The Carolina Panthers hold Rookie Mini Camp on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at the Atrium Health Training Facility in Charlotte, NC.

At 6-2, 212 pounds with the ability to scramble, the question naturally arises: Could he fill a Taysom Hill-type role? It's not something King is opposed to, but it also isn't his first priority.

"If that's what the team needs, I'll do it. Like I said earlier, with owning your role, owning who you are, and what's best for the team, be a great teammate," said King.

"At the end of the day, everybody kind of wants to play, and also Taysom Hill, he's a pretty good athlete and a pretty good ballplayer as well. But I feel like, in my confidence, that I can play quarterback at this level. So, that's my first goal is make it as a quarterback and do as best as I can."

Rookie minicamp may be over, but the rest of their careers are just getting started. So for now, he and this group of rookies will continue to find those pockets of time and concrete, walking through what they can, talking through what they can't, and ensuring no second is wasted once they're back on the grass.

"Simplify it," said the King of the goal. "Because if it's simple in your brain, you're going to be able to play faster. It's kind of like the saying, see a little, see a lot, see a lot, see nothing.

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Tyler Moore is seen as The Carolina Panthers hold Rookie Mini Camp on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at the Atrium Health Training Facility in Charlotte, NC.