BlitzMonster

read reddit r/antiwork for numerous examples of horrible bosses just like this

I could definitely see that being attractive to Watson. Stable organization. Great coach. Solid D. Good rushing support. Lot's of plusses for Watson to head to Pittsburgh. He could succeed there immediately. Now whether Pittsburgh is up for that, who knows ?

Lawrence: Well you don't need a million dollars to do nothing, man. Just take a look at my cousin, he's broke, don't do sh*t.

Why would an established player come to a franchise with a coach on his last legs ? If Rhule gets fired the next year it's an entirely new coaching staff that may or may not want Watson. So no way he comes here at this point.

NFL players rely on their coaching staffs to put them into position to make plays and win games. These big plays and stats determine how large their next player contract will be. So it's not surprising that if coaches aren't doing their job and making it easy for players to do their thing, the locker room will tune them out. Incompetence of the coaching staff is easily seen by the players and literally affects the future livelihood of those players.

Pretty much every new coach is like that. The QB isn't "their guy" so why put tons of time and effort into making him succeed. And if he does, that just makes the previous regime look good. Instead dumping the QB automatically shows how inept the previous coaching staff was. And gives the new coaches more time since they now have to find and train their own QB. It's not how it should be but often how it is. Realpolitik

This is the way. Negotiate a 2 year severance package for you & your entire staff. Then do color commentary & wait for next season's college jobs to open up.

Even worse, when the next Carolina coach comes in (which will almost certainly be 2023) they probably won't want to keep the rookie QB on the roster. They didn't pick him and have no investment in seeing him succeed. So the kid, unless he plays like an All Pro in 2022, is likely gone. All the more reason for the Panthers to go OL in the 2022 draft. It's the gift that will keep on giving to the franchise even with a coaching change.

Willis needs a stable franchise with patience and good coaching. So pretty much the opposite of Carolina.

I think if Malik Willis went to a place like Buffalo and sat behind Josh Allen (another big armed, mobile QB) for a couple of years, he'd have the best career. But if he has to start right away, he may have some issues in reading defenses and decision making. As talented as Willis is, he only has 2 years of starting experience with numerous examples of ill-advised throws.

that will free up more time for Rhule and his partnership with Jay-Z

It's one of two things. Either Rhule is a liar or he's completely clueless. Both options are pretty damning.

The Darnold deal is only a one year mistake. As unpleasant as it is, I can live with that. If dead man walking Rhule does something crazy like trade 3 first round picks for Deshaun Watson, the franchise is screwed.

for you old timers - David Tepper probably

my take - all these bad articles are coming out at the same time - likely encouraged by Tepper's PR arm - to give him cause for firing Rhule without looking stupid "Well I didn't know it was THIS bad" says a shocked David Tepper.

That's how I'm interpreting it as well.

it's like vultures circling a dying animal . . . I think Rhule is gone at the end of the season.

"detailed numerous red flags about Rhule’s leadership, or lack thereof, atop the organization. Those alarming signs include a perception around the league that the team is “soft,” resentment towards a clear favoritism for guys Rhule coached at Baylor and Temple and an instance where Rhule told players he could’ve taken a higher-paying job back in the college ranks rather than staying in Carolina." source

I don't see it as such a bad situation. There are a number of obvious steps that a coach could take to START turning things around right away: The biggest problem is the OL so fix it with your first two draft picks. Take a blue chip LT with pick #7. Christensen starts at LG. Maybe Deonte Brown even starts to contribute at RG. Now you likely have an improved OL with decent pass protection and some push in the running game. Darnold is around for another year so have him play as a game manager QB - dink and dunk All World CMC will be back. Play him at slot receiver to keep him healthy & on the field Horn is coming back from injury. He's like having another 1st round pick. The entire 2021 draft class has some experience in the pro game now. Rhule has criminally underused and underdeveloped them but many of those players were well respected on draft day. Hire an Offensive Coordinator with years of NFL play calling experience. This doesn't fix all of the team problems (obviously our QB situation still needs to be resolved). But it would be a step in the right direction toward becoming a competitive (and competent) team.

This is particularly damaging. If your locker room doesn't believe it's a meritocracy, then you've lost them.

For inherited money, true. But Tepper is a self-made man. He built his own empire because he is a very smart and talented guy. He's no fool.

Pro players want coaches who put them in the positions to make plays and win games. To do that a coach has to be good at X's and O's -> gameplans, in-game adjustments, in-season adjustments, accurate player talent evaluations. If a coach can surround an NFL player with talented other players, draw up great game plans, identify specific situational tendencies of the opponent and make the necessary adjustments, that's going to help the player win. And also make big plays (the sack, the INT) which helps his future contracts. That's what NFL players respect. All the other stuff is just window dressing. And the Panthers players have seen enough of Rhule to know he's bad at basically all of these things. The guy might be a good rah-rah college coach like Swinney but he's a fraud at the NFL level. And that's why Rhule has lost the locker room. Everybody knows he's incompetent at the NFL game.

I think a lot of the things Rhule says/does might work with teenagers - DBO sign, "I could be the coach at Alabama but I choose to stay here", etc. However these things don't fly with 30 year old guys who can see right through him.

It's only because Urban Meyer's pile of poo was larger that Rhule escaped notice this year. Now that Meyer is gone, people are finally able to see how bad Rhule is. And the longer Rhule stays on the Carolina staff, the worse things are going to get.

If all this is true (which I think it likely is) then Rhule needs to immediately lose all personnel control. No trading players or drafting guys in 2022 to save his skin. The long term interests of the team need to take precedence over Rhule's desperation to keep his job.