BlitzMonster

The Panthers have some good young talent. However they are not getting any better. Jeremy Chinn (2020 all rookie team) and Derrick Brown (SEC Defensive POY) are both regressing and getting worse. And the entire 2021 rookie class is barely playing. I think that's the best argument for Rhule getting fired: lack of player development on a team that's supposed to be rebuilding.

I like: your enthusiasm and positivity I don't like: your grasp on reality

anybody seen Urban Meyer lurking around the field ??

So many kids play soccer now compared to the ancient times (1970's). Parents are worried about injuries in football. That may be one of the reasons that 7 on 7 is becoming more popular in high school since there's no tackling. Also why the NFL rules are slowly edging towards touch football - too many injuries (and lawsuits) from the old, super violent way.

If Darnold became a franchise QB, Fitterer would have been hailed as a genius for doing the deal for chump change draft picks. But since Sam flamed out so conclusively, now Fitterer looks the fool. Those draft choices we gave up are really going to hurt. It was a swing and a big miss for the team.

A losing season or two are OK as long as the team is getting better and you can see some light at the end of the tunnel: good drafts, young players developing, a possible franchise QB being groomed, etc. Because all that suggests the losing will eventually stop. Right now the Panthers are just spinning their wheels in the swamp and going nowhere. It's really depressing / demoralizing.

It's a lost season. At least play the rookies to see if they can be part of the future. Terrance Marshall, Shi Smith, Tremble, Christensen, Brown all should be starting or at least playing major minutes.

NFL postponements: Raiders-Browns, Washington-Eagles, Seahawks-Rams games pushed back due to COVID-19 issues CBSSports.com

Something changed te-bow in my post to "The Golden Calf of Bristol". That's not what I wrote. Is it some type of bot doing this ??

I'm sure Tepper has taken larger hits from bad bets he's made in the financial markets. But the Rhule payout would be quantifying to the whole world "Tepper made a REALLY bad decision". And billionaires don't like looking stupid.

I think Meyer would have been fine bringing The Golden Calf of Bristol in as a first year assistant coach instead of as a player. The Golden Calf of Bristol could then help set the tone for the organization and also get some experience coaching. Having The Golden Calf of Bristol come in as a player, being so old and with no recent playing time, for a position he never played, was just the height of stupidity. It was hubris on the part of Urban Meyer.

What does Tepper see that nobody else does - ego & money. Tepper is a very bright guy who became tremendously successful in the financial world. And all this was self made - his parents weren't millionaires. So I'd guess that he's pretty hesitant to admit that he made a mistake in his coaching hire. It would go against the "I'm smarter than everybody else in the room" mindset every hedge fund manager has. He'd be recognizing that he's human in the world of football. So that would be a blow to his ego. Also there's the 45 million or so left on Coach Rhule's contract. It's a large amount of money even to a very rich person. No need to be rash with decisions where you lose big like that.

Oh if only that kicker had just slugged Meyer. Just one good punch. Meyer's career would have been over permanently. Like forever. Getting your ass handed to you by a kicker ! Oh the shame . . .

Really nice layout and analysis here. Great work ! I am hopeful that Tremble becomes a key player in next year's offense.

Every manager should help their direct reports get better at their jobs, including Tepper and Fitterer. But you shouldn't be expected to teach the person absolutely every job task. And that's what seems to be necessary with Rhule. I really can't think of anything that he's doing well as a Head Coach in the NFL. It would require a huge amount of effort to get him competent for this role.

After 2 years in the NFL we see Rhule is clearly over his head. No effective game plans. No in game or in season adjustments. Questionable personnel decisions. Salary cap issues after handing out large contracts to guys who have underperformed. A complete lack of young player development. He's doing poorly at pretty much all the things an NFL coach is responsible for. So the big question becomes "can Rhule get better ?" And that's a tough one. Tepper is an experienced owner and Fitterer has many years in the NFL as well. Can they guide Rhule to become a better head coach ? Do they think Rhule is salvageable ? It's much easier to just fire an underperforming employee than to manage them toward better job performance.

get an experienced OC trade back in the draft for some extra picks use all the early picks on OL QB - I don't know what to do with that. Maybe resign Cam for another year ??

Given Rhule had a year of experience as the Giants OL coach, I thought he'd be much better at figuring out our OL problem. I thought that would be one of his strengths. But it's just been a mess. Poor talent evaluation in the free agency signings of Cameron Erving and Pat Elflein virtually no playing time for the rookies (even though the vets in front of them stink) what playing time the rooks got, they were constantly shifted to different positions It's like a seminar in how not to coach an NFL line.

I think the biggest difference is your #3 - the talent gap In college the talent gap is huge. As a consequence successful coaches are great salesmen. Persuade those 5 star guys to join your roster and you can coast for most of the season because your team is so much better. In the NFL talent is pretty equal so coaches have to out think / out scheme / out work their peers. They succeed by being operations experts with encyclopedic knowledge of the game and flexible game plans. Football engineers of sorts.

great read. Thanks for sharing this with us. It's a very interesting perspective.

I definitely agree with this. I mean Teddy wasn't anything great but at least he could game manage and the team was already paying him. Why not keep him on roster in case Darnold doesn't cut it ? If nothing else Teddy would have been a great backup QB. My best guess is that Rhule wanted Sam to be "the man" and that by having Teddy around, somehow that wouldn't be possible. Divided loyalties in the locker room between the two QB or something like that. But any pro athlete would tell you that it's all about competition and whoever wins it deserves the shot. So going all in on unproven Sam with no alternative was a risky move that eventually blew up in Rhule's face.

Finishing strong for me would be giving all the rookies a lot of playing time so we have a pretty good idea of what we have with them before next season. That would also help their off-season development, which is tremendously important between years 1 and 2. If that happened, I wouldn't care at all about the team W/L record. Lose every game from here on out - fine. Just start developing the young guys.

Yeah, it was clearly a serious error by the Panthers scouting & talent evaluation. Maybe some hubris too by the Carolina coaching staff thinking they could "fix" Darnold when NY couldn't.

Would you trade a 2, 4 and a 6 for a good young starting QB ? I think most teams would. Darnold just proved not to be any good. As LinvilleGorge correctly pointed out, he isn't roster caliber at this point. The worst thing was the Panthers picking up Darnold's option. So the team is on the salary cap hook for a big chunk of change for him now.

I was hopeful but you are exactly right. Sam's stats for Carolina are almost exactly what he did in NY. About 220 ypg, 60 % completion, 1:1 TD:INT - it's uncanny how similar his numbers are on both teams. Darnold's QBR even went down a bit while he was at the Panthers. That's just who he is. Darnold NFL stats