Mr. Scot

Part of what we found most concerning from the "Hunger Games" story was the question of why Tepper would listen to coaches backstabbing their colleagues rather than squashing that sort of internal toxicity. Turns out he was actually encouraging it

...and yeah, we come in last. Here's the writeup on the Panthers, with a new little piece of info about one of Tepper's practices. 8. Carolina Panthers The next coach in Carolina must manage an impulsive owner while also creating a successful offense around an outlier quarterback whose confidence could need rebuilding after a brutal rookie season. Working within a weaker division should help, but this job comes with flashing red warning lights. People who have worked for Panthers owner David Tepper tend to like him. They know he cares about winning. They also have suffered from his overly impulsive decision-making and his intrusion in their areas of expertise. They question whether Tepper’s methods work as well in the NFL as they might in the investing world that Tepper dominated as a hedge-fund manager. For example, coaches who have worked in Carolina say Tepper’s fact-finding missions in the building, which include asking members of the offensive staff about their defensive counterparts, and vice versa, can amplify divisions. Tepper signed Frank Reich and a staff featuring big names to long-term contracts amid much fanfare last offseason. Reich lasted 11 games. By then, he had relinquished and taken back play-calling duties, operating like a coach under great pressure from above. The next coach should expect similar treatment until Tepper demonstrates otherwise. ... Yikes!

Lotsa folks think that's in the cards.

Pretty clear Brian Johnson is getting head coaching interviews because of the Rooney Rule. When all is said and done though, it's unlikely his current employer keeps him.

Belichick hasn't scared me in years. Belichick minus Brady probably never will.

Today's agenda... Johnson's interview is tomorrow.

We're only blocking defensive guys and Tabor. Brown and other offensive coaches are free to do what they want. And to be clear, hanging on to guys in the middle of a coaching transition is common, but not universal. Plenty of teams allow guys to interview elsewhere out of courtesy because they know the new head coach might not want them. Mind you, this is one of those things that successful organizations don't get criticized for all that much. Dysfunctional ones like us are a different story.

Excerpt regarding the GM / coaching search: The Carolina Panthers are two weeks into their double-barreled search for a head coach and general manager. Owner David Tepper, with an assist from the consulting group Sportsology, has conducted virtual interviews with more than half of the 12 known candidates for the coaching position, including a pair of defensive coordinators Wednesday — Dan Quinn and Raheem Morris. It’s less clear where things stand on the GM search because the Panthers have not been posting updates when they complete interviews with GM candidates — as they and seemingly every other NFL team have done after meetings with head coach candidates. So there’s been a slower trickle of news on the GM side, although The Athletic reported last week that Philadelphia Eagles assistant GM Alec Halaby had interviewed and confirmed that Las Vegas Raiders interim GM Champ Kelly also had been in. Additionally, New York Giants assistant GM Brandon Brown interviewed last weekend, according to a league source.

In His latest article for The Athletic, league insider Jeff Howe (with the help of some NFL executives) theorizes what could have been if the Panthers had picked "that other guy" in last year's draft. The analysis includes some discussion on what happened internally with the Panthers this past season. Excerpts follow: ...(I)t’s fair to wonder whether the Panthers made the wrong call with Young or if Stroud simply wound up in a situation that was more conducive to early success. There’s an argument to be made for each side. “Houston has a better situation,” an executive from another team said. “If you drop Stroud in Carolina, would he have the same success? No way in hell.” ... As the Texans were expected to lose in Caserio’s first two seasons, he prioritized short, budget-conscious contracts for players with reputations for playing hard and smart as the team searched for a longer-term identity. Then, Houston finally hired the right coach in Ryans, who was viewed to have star potential as he gained experience with the San Francisco 49ers’ staff, and he quickly established a winning culture. ... The Panthers, meanwhile, operated on a nearly identical timeline, but the results haven’t followed. General manager Scott Fitterer was hired in 2021, and head coach Frank Reich took over last year. Both were recently fired, with Reich’s tenure lasting a mere 11 games. Whether it was meddling from owner David Tepper, a roster that was constructed to fit the prior coaching staff’s philosophy or a combination of both, the Panthers weren’t competitive this season. Young completed 59.8 percent of his passes for 2,877 yards, 11 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 73.7 passer rating. He added 253 rushing yards in 16 starts. There was an emphasis on keeping him in the pocket to protect him from injuries, but that seemed to restrict the creativity that set him apart at Alabama. And yet, Young was sacked 62 times behind a bad offensive line and couldn’t lean on the league’s 20th-ranked rushing attack or get enough plays out of his receivers and tight ends. ... “There are a lot of failures there in Carolina,” an executive said. “It’s not all on Bryce. Carolina had no run game or playmakers, and the offensive line was a mess. You tried to drop a unique QB into a bad situation, and you can’t protect him.” Young wasn’t playing with the same confidence, partly because of the results and partly because of the number of voices in his ear trying to pass along too many messages. It’s difficult to imagine any quarterback thriving under those circumstances, let alone a rookie. “The situations, staff, surrounding cast, etc., have a bearing on success and (what is labeled as) failure, especially at that position,” another executive said. ... Even if it’s acknowledged that the circumstances in Carolina were worse than they were in Houston, it’s also still possible the Panthers simply left the better player on the board. Young had plenty of support around the league as the best quarterback prospect, but it wasn’t unanimous. The concerns were real over his 5-foot-10, 204-pound measurement at the combine, to the point that some executives said they couldn’t justify spending such a high draft pick on him. Stroud had been viewed as the best pure pocket passer in the class, and executives and coaches around the league believed he would have been better suited for Reich’s style. Reich, a former NFL quarterback, had an extended history working with QBs who preferred to stay in the pocket rather than scramble to make plays off schedule. Stroud was certainly Caserio’s type of quarterback after spending so much time around Tom Brady with the New England Patriots. ... Even though talent evaluators had their preferences for Young or Stroud, it was largely considered a tough call because they’re such different players. That led to one executive telling The Athletic last April that he’d “rather be (the Texans) and take Kevin Durant.” It was a reference to the 2007 NBA Draft, when there was a debate between Greg Oden and Durant for the top pick. There also was Anthony Richardson, who went No. 4 to the Indianapolis Colts. Richardson started only four games due to injuries, so his evaluation is far more limited, but one executive wondered whether Richardson would have been the better pick for Carolina. The thinking was Richardson could improvise and use his athleticism to offset the other issues with the offense, but the injury issues could have presented themselves with the Panthers, too. ... “I was never a huge Young fan,” an executive said. “So I would say they took the wrong guy.” Another executive agreed. “I think they took the wrong guy,” the executive said. “(Young) is very small. (There was) no talent around him, but in the end, Stroud was the better prospect.” It’s still way too early to close the book on Young. He has more than enough talent to rebound in an improved environment, just as Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence recovered from a miserable rookie season in 2021. ... The other problem is the price the Panthers paid to select Young. They traded two first-rounders, two second-rounders and wide receiver D.J. Moore to move up for the quarterback. Whatever Young’s future holds, at that cost, the Panthers would prefer to have more of a sure thing after one season. But it’s the Panthers’ fault for dropping Young into a bad situation. Stroud, on the other hand, is that sure thing. He has shown poise with his ball security, a penchant to deliver in clutch situations and the moxie to produce a near-perfect passer rating (157.2) in his playoff debut against a Cleveland Browns defense that allowed the fewest yards in the regular season. ... Before the draft, though, there were reports that Stroud performed poorly on the S2 Cognition test. Since S2 only releases the test results to the teams that pay for their services, the theory is a team leaked the scores to hurt Stroud’s stock. It just didn’t seem to fly with the teams that had already gotten to know Stroud through the interview process. “Stroud is a really smart guy,” an executive said. “Whoever leaked that S2 score, that was bulls—. I don’t know what they were trying to accomplish. When we met with him, turned on the tape and talked ball, we knew he was an incredibly smart quarterback.” And the Texans know they have the face of their franchise, while the Panthers are still trying to figure it out.

It does confirm that Johnson is interviewing with more than just us and the Commanders.

Not a whole lot of new info, but some "fill in the blanks" type things from Joe... Excerpts: Big names absent from the Panthers’ list Tepper has always been one who enjoyed taking the big swings, from jumping into the Matthew Stafford and Deshaun Watson sweepstakes to interviewing Sean Payton for the head-coaching vacancy last year before Frank Reich was hired. So it’s been a bit unusual to see the Atlanta Falcons, the Panthers’ division rivals, connected to Bill Belichick and Jim Harbaugh while the Panthers have — at least to this point — sat idly by. ... In the wake of Rhule’s firing, Tepper said he’d made a mistake in hiring a “CEO-type head coach.”... Some who know Tepper believe he would be reluctant to give the 71-year-old Belichick full roster control, which he had in New England. ... As for Harbaugh, who has a quirky personality but a winning track record, it just seems like he and Tepper would be strange bedfellows. ... Where things stand with Ben Johnson It’s a big weekend for in-demand Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who has virtual interviews scheduled with four of the six teams that want to talk to him — followed by the Lions’ divisional playoff game Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I’m hearing Johnson is scheduled to meet with the Panthers and Washington Commanders on Friday, before interviewing with the L.A. Chargers and Seattle Seahawks on Saturday. Johnson is still believed to be Tepper’s top target, as he was last year before the North Carolina native and former UNC quarterback withdrew from consideration. The 37-year-old Johnson, who went to high school in Asheville, has done little to hurt his candidacy in the year since, overseeing an innovative offense that finished in the top five in the league in both yards (394.8 per game) and points (27.1). ... Brown out in Charlotte? Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown was in Chicago on Wednesday interviewing for the same position with the Bears’ staff, which would seem to indicate he won’t be in Charlotte next season. ... With seven of the Panthers’ head coach candidates coming from an offensive background, it makes sense Tepper would let Brown explore other opportunities. ... It was a tough year for Brown, the former Rams assistant who was given play-calling duties in October only to have Reich reclaim them three games later. Brown took over play calling again after Reich was fired. And while he did a nice job establishing the run game behind Chuba Hubbard, the Panthers ended the season by being shut out in back-to-back games, the first time that’s happened since 2008 when the Cleveland Browns were blanked in consecutive weeks. ... Like Tabor, Brown was ranked second among offensive coordinators in the NFLPA survey, an impressive showing given that the Panthers finished 2-15 and were last in total offense. It speaks to the respect players have for Brown, who — similar to former Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady — figures to find success elsewhere after leaving Carolina.

FYI for after the hire is made...

General comment from Jeremiah...

Understood. Flipside question though would be, given the outcome of big money paid for bad results, why lock them in?

Might be what we want but I'm not so sure the timeline is cooperating, especially if we're hoping for Ben Johnson.

Payton was in his late 50s when he did that though. Bill turns 72 in a few months.

In fact...

That's a real possibility.

Luckily it's not the same person making the deci...aaahhh, sh-t!

He referenced what we already knew from the Graziano story. No new info, just these guys' spin on the report.

I know in recent years, lot of ESPN's best behind the NFL scenes articles have been co-authored by Graziano and Jeremy Fowler.

News on one former Panthers assistant... Staley took the job here to be close to his ailing mother. Really hate how things worked out for him.

Meanwhile... With all due respect Baker, this may not be the best idea

Not anymore...seeing as I'm pretty sure she's dead (no, she didn't die from being put through a table...that I know of)

Lemme add this here since I posted it in the wrong thread... This is what Top Dawg mentioned Schuyler Callihan talking about in regards to Kelly. For what it's worth, Callihan is of the opinion that the leading GM candidate at the moment is the Chiefs Brandt Tilis.