My experience with Thomas Davis this morning

[TheCasillas]

Believe it or not, I run a non-profit here in Charlotte focusing on "at-opportunity" children and technology. This morning at SHARE Charlotte (a group where non-profits get together and discuss their challenges, successes and goals), we had a guest speaker: Thomas Davis. 

Thomas spent a good amount of time discussing his foundation Defending Dreams, which is a fantastic foundation, but did share some items of interests. To help make this readable I will do it in bullet point fashion:

• Did not give the vibe that he will retire this year, matter of fact mentioned "a couple more years" multiple times.
• Said Tepper has actively requested that the players do more with commmunity
• Described Tepper as "unique" - the tone was neutral as if he was resistant to be positive about it.
• Said he wants to be a police officer once he retires
• Spoke very highly of peanut
• He is attempting to open a charter school here in charlotte
• He has provided over 60k in scholarship funding to kids in NC and GA
• Does not agree with Le'Veon - says he is an idiot (my words, not his)
• Stated that Kelvin was the one with the poor attitude in the Cam and Kelvin interaction, and that Cam was very professional about it, but Kelvin was "emotional"

Other than realizing that Thomas Davis is a great person and has been a great figure for our franchise. I feel like there may be some sort of division or lack of relationship with Tepper with our players. Maybe Davis doesn't know Tepper well enough to speak glowingly about him, or he may still have an allegiance to JR. However, I just wasnt getting the vibe that people are "all in" with Tepper. Again this is my perspective, and I don' want anyone to walk away with "TD is poo" or anythign derogatory.

TL:DR - TD is a good person - may play another year - wants to be a police officer.

[Sam Mills Fan]

Was this said to you privately or during his speech?

Re Tepper: there are few people harder to read on this planet during interviews and presentations than NFL players. I wouldn't read anything into his tone at all. Thomas Davis is especially hard to read.

[LinvilleGorge]

Not surprising that a player who has been with the Panthers as long as TD and who had (maybe still has) a great relationship with JR isn't exactly thrilled about JR being forced out and having a new owner.

[TheCasillas]

2 minutes ago, Sam Mills Fan said:

Was this said to you privately or during his speech?

Re Tepper: there are few people harder to read on this planet during interviews and presentations than NFL players. I wouldn't read anything into his tone at all. Thomas Davis is especially hard to read.

half n half. Which part and I will specify 

[PanthersBigD]

Yeah, I'd put the the neutral tone of the Tepper comments to mean that he may be worried he won't get the same special treatment he got from Richardson. I like Tepper even more if that's true. 

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Not surprising that a player who has been with the Panthers as long as TD and who had (maybe still has) a great relationship with JR isn't exactly thrilled about JR being forced out and having a new owner.

Or about the fact that said new owner might not be as inclined to keep him around as Richardson was.

I'd be hesitant to project that on anybody other than Davis himself, except to say that employees do generally take some time to get to know a new boss (especially those that we're close to the old boss).

[Nate Dogg]

Awesome write-up. Thanks for sharing, man.

[Mage]

Or it could be the simple fact Davis has only known Tepper for a month (at best; I doubt they have spoken much). Not a big deal and not worth reading into. 

[Mr. Scot]

1 hour ago, PanthersBigD said:

Yeah, I'd put the the neutral tone of the Tepper comments to mean that he may be worried he won't get the same special treatment he got from Richardson. I like Tepper even more if that's true. 

I get the impression that being a longtime Panther, being friendly with the owner or even being a "good guy" isn't going to carry the kind of weight that it used to anymore.

Never would have believed we'd see Thomas Davis in another uniform (I think he himself said it would never happen) but it's looking more and more like a real possibility.

If Davis ends up as a Falcon, a Saint, or a Patriot or something there are probably some folks who will turn on Tepper.  They really shouldn't, but that's how things often go.

[Paa Langfart]

From what I have read TD was pretty tight with JR.  Beyond business.  Tepper is all business from what I see and isn't about to let personnel decisions be made outside of what he has or will decide is the best business model for his 2+ billions of dollars investment.  That probably doesn't sit well with players who have been mollycoddled over the years.

[MechaZain]

Richardson was going to take care of him for however long he wanted and that's no guarantee anymore.

Starting to worry that we're gonna have a Favre/Rodgers situation on our hands and the team will be forced into a hard decision with TD.  He went from retiring "any day now" to "a couple more years"  rapidly and he's starting to sound desperate about it. Him and Shaq are so close and he's never shown any resistance towards passing the torch, but if he has any expectations about his future role or money it could get ugly. No more disgruntled legends please.

[Tbe]

Hopefully he is ok playing a backup role. That’s the only way this could go down well.

[joemac]

TD doesnt get to wear that little gold man patch on his jersey for nothing!

[Carl Spackler]

Also worth noting that after being cut, Charles Johnson was quoted as saying "I have no plans to retire anytime soon."

He's since retired. Things can change from the moment they're said.