Mr. Scot

I haven't researched her yet. Plan to, though...

Nothing I've read about Johnson makes me think he wants that kind of control.

FYI: Mile Kaye thinks it's remotely possible that Tepper tries to keep Fitterer by blaming everything on Reich.

Tepper schmoozing his agent is at least a good sign.

I'd prefer a higher standard over "better than Nicole Tepper".

I have no idea how good she is. She might be great. I'm just worried that when it comes to hiring time, Tepper will care more about optics than actual ability.

Side news: Philly, of course...

And of course, I have to go along on a Christmas shopping trip

Worst kept secret in the league...

In the sense that it means we're likely getting a new GM, probably. My worry is he'll pick someone for the sake of image.

One NFL note... Of course he does

From the story... The league had its annual Front Office & General Manager Accelerator Program attached to the meetings, where there were several soon-to-be GMs in attendance. Team owners had the voluntary opportunity to meet with the 42 participants at a 90-minute cocktail reception on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday morning they were part of a networking roundtable with some participants. ... Sources said the two team owners most active and engaged with participants at the program were Washington's Josh Harris and Tepper, both of whom could have GM openings by the end of the season. League sources believe as many as a half-dozen GM jobs will be open.

Thanks for warning us about Rhule.

Just wondering what the reactions will be when we announce our new GM... Meet Browns Assistant GM Catherine Raiche

Panthers, Chargers confirmed. Commanders, Bears and Patriots expected. Bills, Bucs, Jets, Titans and Falcons speculated / rumored to be possible. Raiders leaning toward keeping Pierce (also Kelly as GM).

I'm not a Harbaugh fan, but I do see him being a favorite for that job.

Yeah..no. Hurney and Rivera were terrible together, and even that's not far back enough. If I were going back in time, I'd start off with us taking Steve McNair instead of Kerry Collins.

Already said I don't think we'll get Dodds, but someone with an attitude like his might be necessary. Dodds has made clear that in any GM job he takes, he wants absolute control. Given the way Tepper acts, we probably need somebody like that. Truth be told, "The Appaloosa Way" and its collaborative approach to things has done unfold damage to this team.

I go back to what I think was a pivotal moment for Rivera, and that was the decision to hire Mike Shula as OC. It was typical of his loyalty issues, and it was absolutely the wrong choice. Gettleman reportedly wanted Pat Shurmur, and while Shurmur the head coach was lousy, Shurmur the OC was a defense killer. Picturing what a Shurmur led offense could have done paired with a rivera-led defense makes me wonder just have different things could have been. The only question I have is that Shurmur ran a WCO and Newton wasn't well suited to that sort of scheme at the time, but I'd like to believe between them they could have made it work. (Shula still being his quarterback coach probably would have helped)

Ron and Marty were awful together. Probably as much as anything because they just too similar in their weaknesses. Both tended to favor players too much, as with Rivera's desire that every veteran have a good ending to his career.

Trust me, if I could rewrite Panthers history I'd be going back way further than that But yeah, if I recall correctly at the time we hired Matt Rhule I was pushing for Dan Campbell.

Not to knock Rivera but I've never taken the Coach of the Year award all that seriously. For one, those two years that Rivera won it he was alternating with Bruce Arians. Also true that if you take a look back at the history of the award, the guys who want it had great seasons but very few of them finished them out with Lombardi trophies.

Prior interview experience probably crosses Ed Dodds off the list too.

On the other front, while he certainly had his limitations, Bridgewater did at least warn us about Matt Rhule. Wish we would have listened.

We did that with Phil Snow though and got run over.