What’s the Deal with Jake Delhomme?

Saturday’s NFC divisional playoff game was a letdown for the Carolina Panthers and fans. Okay, not just a letdown; it was downright embarrassing. Carolina QB Jake Delhomme threw a whopping five interceptions in the game, leading to a 13-33 loss for the second-ranked Panthers in a shocking Arizona victory. While playing the blame game is never entirely accurate or helpful, fingers have undoubtedly been pointed in the direction of Delhomme, who played the worst game of his entire career in last week’s Panthers-Cardinals matchup.

Despite mixed feelings coming from all sides of Charlotte, Panthers coach John Fox still has faith in the veteran, announcing earlier this week that Delhomme would once again be the starting QB for the Panthers next season. On the whole, Delhomme is still a standout quarterback, having a 55-34 record as a starter for Carolina and getting the team out of several sticky situations this season (he’s ranked fifth in the league with his fourth-quarter rating of 97.8.)

While we know Delhomme will be back next year to throw for the Carolina Panthers, other options that are available in his absence are backup Josh McCown, third-stringer Matt Moore and practice-teamer Brett Basanez, who are already on Carolina’s roster. Other quarterbacks up for grabs as unrestricted free agents after this year are Kurt Warner, Kerry Collins, Jeff Garcia, Rex Grossman, J.T. O’Sullivan and Byron Leftwich, and with the Patriots rumored to put a franchise tag on Matt Cassel, he could be a hot commodity this year, as well.

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