vorbis

would be another absolute coup of a hire, Brown is very respected and considered a rising coach

given that the Rooney Rule applies to coordinator hires these days, they can't be the only two by rule.

@The Crown and Claw enters the CH history books as a news breaker

if this is legit breaking news hey come on back anytime, poster!

when he wasn't listed as part of the head coach interview posse, I thought he might be on the outs. he seemed to be an asset in the front office with lots of contacts around the league. wonder if they'll seek to replace him, or if Dan Morgan was the replacement for him after all.

I saw the 4 Man Rush podcast talking with a Colts fan and film junkie yesterday, and the Colts fan mentioned that Reich didn't seem to have much interest at all in acquiring smaller, shiftier receivers during his time in Indy. Indy drafted Michael Pittman, seemed to have no interest in Skyy Moore. only WR drafted in an early-ish round during his time in Philly was Dorial Green-Beckham. not sure if that will remain the case here but it's worth mentioning.

digging into Evero now that he's for sure coming and there's so much to like. I love hearing what the players say about him. just really encouraging all around. one thing in particular that I'm kind of gobsmacked about. the success he had in Denver was with a very, very green staff underneath him. I know the general sense is that part of the appeal of coming to the Panthers was being able to build out his own staff. well check out his staff in Denver: DLine coach: Marcus Dixon (1 year of NFL position coaching experience) Inside LB coach: Peter Hanson (3 years of NFL position coaching experience) Outside LB coach: Bert Watts (1 year of NFL position coaching experience) DB coach: Christian Parker (2 years of NFL position coaching experience) assistant DB coach: Ola Adams (first NFL position coaching gig) that's 7 years of NFL position coaching experience among 5 position coaches. I have to think that's pretty uncommon in the NFL, and he had a really good defense that played together. now he did have a couple consultant types in Dom Capers and Bill Kollar. but overall, he built a staff featuring young coaches, but with (very) senior NFL people consulting in addition to that. part of that might have been the vision of Nathaniel Hackett, but overall that is a very encouraging sign. so since Evero presumably has the opportunity to build his own defensive staff in collaboration with Frank Reich who is open about wanting to collaborate on that, there's a decent chance some very junior coaches could be coming with Evero to the Panthers. really cool!

I think Evero is going to do a great job in Carolina, seems like a really good match with Reich in particular. I think the team will all row in the same direction next season, which could unlock a LOT of potential as early as next season.

Rhule is megawealthy too, you know. and Rhule could have negotiated any kind of contract he wanted, but he worked to set the salaries year over year right at, or according to the argument of the Panthers, over the industry standard raise percentage. and he did that precisely so he could double dip. he could have gotten the exact same amount of money from Nebraska on a flat salary year-over-year. tons of coaches do that. that kind of contract was good enough for Rhule to sign with the Panthers, by the way. but he chose to squeeze extra money out of his deal through the offset language. don't pretend this is some innocent need-a-penny-take-a-penny move. he knew what he was doing. the contract doesn't scale from 7 million to 9 million over the term. you know, two salaries within the same band. it goes from 5.5 to 12.5. it's obvious what he's doing. and yeah, sure, if your motivation is just to squeeze all the money you can out of your contract and your jobs, that's your prerogative. but it shows what's important to you, and reflects on you as a person. especially coming from a man who negotiated substantial power in his role as a head coach and then routinely deflected blame and responsibility for failures throughout his tenure in Charlotte. I really don't care about Tepper's angle here. it seems he wants to grind Rhule in arbitration, maybe out of spite, maybe out of a legitimate grievance with Rhule's contract. I really don't care. I'm just talking about Rhule here.

I think the legal dispute here is above board, for the record. basic contract language litigation, and it'll go to an arbitrator, so there will almost certainly be a settlement of some sort. I just think it reflects poorly on Rhule on a personal level. so in that sense, just add it to the list of other things that have transpired since he left the Panthers. but overall it's pretty clear there is actual acrimony between Tepper and Rhule. parlor drama, yes, but it does make Tepper's "mistake" comments seem a little more emphatic, doesn't it.

Rhule's new contract with Nebraska is structured so that his salary is heavily weighted towards the later years of the deal. because of that, he's getting paid slightly less over the years that overlap with his Panthers deal, and he's suing for the difference between those two numbers. honestly I think it's pretty greasy that he organized his new contract that way, really transparently just trying to squeeze an extra $5M out of his deal. which, in a vacuum I wouldn't really think much of it, go ahead and get your money. but in the context of Rhule's performance and his...demeanor after getting fired? greasy. another example of him talking a big game but not having anywhere near the ethics to back it up on a personal level.

Frank Reich himself was interviewed a few weeks ago by Vic Carucci and discussed his staff philosophy specifically (question is asked around the 10:30 mark but he gets to the staff at just after 14 minutes)

for all the talk about how Reich has great connections and could build a great staff (I don't disagree), the immediate success he had in Indianapolis was with a staff assembled by Josh McDaniels before he bolted.

amusing that now the former coach is gone, the convenient leaks to certain media personalities seem to happen much, much less frequently

I think the reason NFL front offices are seeking the young guns is based on a few things. I think part of it is the Tomlin/Harbaugh dream, for sure. let's find The Guy and really get rolling. but also there is a general sense that offense is evolving more quickly than defense in the NFL these days. so they want the bright minds who are on the bleeding edge of that wave. in my heart of hearts I don't think that will last forever, but it's undoubtedly the case right now. there will come a day when everybody's looking for the hotshot defensive candidate. but also, and, based on my *mumbles* years of watching the NFL, the most prominent reason why they are seeking the young guns, is because the NFL is a copycat league. almost as much as it's a football league, it's a copycat league. and they see a newish model of coach/front office structure work, and work quickly, and they say to their organizations: Go do That.

obviously no employer with half a brain cell is going to straight up tell a candidate they were passed over because of their age. that is the express train to lawsuitsville. they can make the exact same decision and cloak it in language to cover their asses. and that often happens. I don't really think this applies in this situation though. hiring head coaches in their 30s is overwhelmingly a recent phenomenon. 61 years old is not too old to be a successful coach in the NFL in and of itself. I think that's pretty well documented, no? but mostly I want to speak to this idea that you want to hire a coach for a ten-year period. that just so rarely happens, to the point that I don't think it's a realistic thing to expect. John Fox, if I recall, just barely by the seat of his pants made it to ten years. Rivera made it what, 7-8? and both these coaches won coach of the year awards, and took their teams to super bowls. you just don't judge a hire based on that criteria, full stop. if you get 5 solid years and the coach leaves the organization in a better place than they found it? you've got a good hire, in the grand scope of things. in that sense, there's really no compelling reason to prioritize a coach who will be 45 in ten years vs 70 in ten years. of course everyone wants to find the Mike Tomlin who will grow with the team and coach for a generation. but those candidates don't come around every year, frankly. and you've got to have the organizational buy-in to not only stick with the coach for that amount of time, but mold the operations and vision so that you get the most out of what they have to offer. the Panthers just aren't in that spot right now, according to the coach search group. they feel they're a bit farther down the line. I know there are many users on this forum that vehemently disagree with that. but they feel they're ready for a coach to take them to "the next level." I think that's pretty clear. and you don't rip it down to the studs and reset the clock towards playoff aspirations if you feel you just got finished doing that.

if you believe Rapoport has legit sources within the building, he indicates it's a two candidate race at this point. Wilks and Reich. no Moore.

not the biggest fan of Payton the personality but if he wants to get his ring and get out, that's fine with me. so long as you get the ring. and if he's going to do everything he can to get that ring, that's also fine with me. and I think putting up with years of mediocrity to get a ring is a false premise. generally the people trying their damnedest to get a ring aren't going to be mediocre very often.

holy crap, that's some substantial work, cheers for the linkage

no harm in at least talking to him

I'm fine with these interviews. first interviews. first of many.

the Panthers have to interview at least two minority candidates from outside the building to satisfy the Rooney Rule conditions, so might as well make it a proper search. my question is what kind of demand there will be for Steve Wilks around the league after the job he's done down the stretch. might not be a "hold on Steve let us interview these people and then circle back" situation at all.

Panthers have been using extra linemen to jumpstart the running game since Steve Wilks took over. when Erving is in he's usually the 6th or 7th lineman on the field. see Cade Mays at fullback last couple games. it's just to get better matchups in run block, that's it. get that 6th OL to block a linebacker at the point of attack. that's all.

not my business. DJ is a smart guy, if he did this then he knows it was something he needed to do. I don't need details honestly. moving on