Sam Darnold to be Panthers' highest-paid player ($18.8M) while backing up Baker Mayfield

Sam Darnold received some unfortunate news on Monday. The former No. 3 overall pick is still wanted by the Carolina Panthers, but the starting quarterback role — at least for now — won't be for him.

Instead, head coach Matt Rhule has decided to go with Baker Mayfield. It's a bit ironic because Mayfield was drafted No. 1 overall by the Cleveland Browns in the same draft Darnold was taken by the New York Jets. It's also ironic because the Panthers traded away assets hoping that Darnold could be their "savior" at quarterback, which obviously didn't play out.

They then proceeded to do the same with Mayfield, so it will be interesting to see how that works out.

While today was undoubtedly a hit to the ego for Darnold, at least he'll still be getting paid like a starting quarterback. He'll be riding the bench for the foreseeable future but will still be making $18.8 million dollars this season. 

To put that in perspective, Darnold will have the highest base salary on the team this season, and he'll take up 8.8% of Carolina's total cap. He'll be getting paid more than Shaq Thomson ($13.1 million) Christian McCaffrey, Robbie Anderson ($10.9 million), and Christian McCaffrey ($8.7 million).

This is just further proof that being the backup may be one of the best jobs in sports, though Darnold probably doesn't feel that today.