When word broke Monday morning  that the Carolina Panthers were placing Jake Delhomme on injured reserve, the topic quickly turned to who the team would sign as a replacement. But I offer you this sobering thought, Carolina fans -- what if the Panthers need to sign not one, but two quarterbacks?

   I spoke with GM Marty Hurney on Monday night and he said the team is "hopeful" that David Carr will start Sunday against Arizona despite a painful back injury in a win over New Orleans.

   "Hopefully he's OK," Hurney said. "We'll see how he feels Wednesday (when the team returns to practice)."

   But what if Carr can't go this week? That would leave them with Matt Moore, who is basically a fourth-string quarterback. (Think about it, Delhomme was No. 1, Carr No. 2 and Brett Basanez, also on IR, began as the No. 3 guy.)

   If Carr's back were to tighten up -- which is very, very conceivable given the way he looked after Sunday's game -- and he were to miss any significant time then the Panthers may want to consider adding two signal callers. It's probably a long shot that they add two right now, but don't completely rule it out.

   At the very least they will add one within the next 24 hours.

   So who will that be?

   There isn't much on the free agent market. Drew Bledsoe has a history with offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson, as does Vinny Testaverde, although both appear happy with retirement. Doug Flutie, who also had time in New England, is apparently content working as a football analyst. Rohan Davey is a young guy who spent time with the Patriots and could warrant some consideration. Jay Feidler is a smart guy who could come in and pick up the offense fast. Tim Rattay is an option.

   It's also possible the Panthers may attempt to trade a late-round pick for a quarterback.

   Ken Dorsey, who worked last season under Davidson is in Cleveland. Charlie Frye, who was recently traded from Cleveland to Seattle after Week 1, could be another option. The Panthers  expressed interest in free agent Marques Tuiasosopo in the off-season, but he wound up signing with the Jets. Maybe they will try to pry him away from New York.

   Two teams have four quarterbacks and are eager to deal -- Tampa Bay and Oakland. The Bucs might be willing to part with Bruce Gradkowski (although they may not want to deal with NFC South rival Carolina) and the Raiders are said to be interested in dealing Andrew Walter, a former third-round draft pick some upside.

    After looking over the available list of free agents, I've come to one conclusion -- the Panthers should strongly consider making a trade. And I think they will. I have a feeling if the Panthers wanted to sign one of those free agents, a deal would be done by now.

   Hurney promised me nothing was going to get done Monday night.

    In case you're interested, here's a complete list of notable free agent quarterbacks, according to the NFL: Players Association: Dalton Bell, Drew Bledsoe, Todd Bouman, Shane Boyd, Casey Bramlet, Aaron Brooks, Rohan Davey, Koy Detmer, Ty Detmer, Kevin Eakin, Brett Elliot, Jay Feidler, Doug Flutie, Gibran Hamdan, Tim Hasselbeck, Doug Johnson, David Koral, Toby Korrodi, Tommy Maddox, Shane Matthews, Mike McMahon, Erik Meyer, Craig Nall, John Navarre, Drew Olson, Jesse Palmer, Bryan Randall, Brett Ratliff, Tim Rattay, Lester Ricard, Kent Smith, Vinny Testaverde, Chris Weinke, Jared Zabransky. Hey, what do you want? There's a reason the guys are unemployed.