Audio: Joe Person interview (Fox Sports Upstate)

[ellis]

12 minutes ago, mav1234 said:

I'll give a listen later, thanks for posting. We know Tepper has been pushing for a proven QB but word was he also wanted Fields.  Is QB at 5/6/wherever we end up likely, if they've soured on Sam?

Hard to say. Like I said, Joe seems pretty adamant from his sourcing that Tep and Co will revisit the possibility of Watson this off-season. I’ve heard this from others, Albert Breer being one. Again, nobody really truly knows, but those are a couple of well-sourced reporters. 

The few people I know around that operation have hinted at this, as well. Ultimately, I think they will look to land Watson or Wilson via trade, potentially offloading Sam somehow, and turn their attention to OL early-ish in the draft (problem being…you’re low on picks).

Should that fall through, perhaps they aim to draft Pickett or another rook QB. Plenty of eval coming up from the scouting department on these QBs, and other positions. I don’t know if they’ll pull off the Watson/Wilson thing, but especially Watson, I really think there’s something to it. I’m not advocating it, I think there’s potential to set things back a little bit in terms of roster building and draft capital w a Watson deal, but some would argue his talent transcends all that. Plus, the off the field stuff that remains fairly dubious would concern me. We’ll see.

Wilson did say yesterday he wanted to finish things out in Seattle, but it’s early yet. There is the Fitterer/Schneider/Pete connection, and I’m sure they will make a phone call. 

Again, I’m just trying to view this from a player perspective: do I give myself the best opportunity to win a championship with Matt Rhule and some of their roster deficiencies. It’s a conundrum.

Edited January 8, 2022 by ellis

[LinvilleGorge]

Yep, we're fuged.

[Rocky Davis]

How does getting Watson, who clearly doesn't want to be here help anything at all from both a draft capital, salary cap, and image perspective?  Cut bait....he'll only end up burning us.

I still say Rhule should be fired.  He just isn't cut out for this and he isn't going to like bringing in a former NFL head coach to be a coordinator.  I mean I get the feeling from the interview that Tepper is going to basically demand Rhule to retool his offensive staff.  Given that, our defense isn't as good as people think and I believe there need to be changes there too.  I just think it's better to walk Rhule and Company to the door, find a real NFL coach who can put together an NFL staff and keep our draft picks, get Fitterer and the new HC on the same page and know 2022 is going to be ugly but give the fan base some hope.

[BurnNChinn]

Just now, Rocky Davis said:

How does getting Watson, who clearly doesn't want to be here help anything at all from both a draft capital, salary cap, and image perspective?  Cut bait....he'll only end up burning us.

I still say Rhule should be fired.  He just isn't cut out for this and he isn't going to like bringing in a former NFL head coach to be a coordinator.  I mean I get the feeling from the interview that Tepper is going to basically demand Rhule to retool his offensive staff.  Given that, our defense isn't as good as people think and I believe there need to be changes there too.  I just think it's better to walk Rhule and Company to the door, find a real NFL coach who can put together an NFL staff and keep our draft picks, get Fitterer and the new HC on the same page and know 2022 is going to be ugly but give the fan base some hope.

He can’t come here unless he says yes, so it’s not like we can make the trade without him saying yes! JS

[LinvilleGorge]

Tepper really thinks Rhule is the right guy, they just need to find the right QB. Nevermind that Rhule and his staff have been quickly figured out over the course of a few games in both of his seasons. Both years we played our best football early and the more tape opponents got to study the worse we looked. That's be wise we don't have NFL level coaching.

[Rocky Davis]

1 minute ago, BurnNChinn said:

He can’t come here unless he says yes, so it’s not like we can make the trade without him saying yes! JS

You are right and I hope he continues to say no!  It would set us back and even as good as he has been, I just don't see him making us more competitive for what his cost would be.

I think keeping Rhule just makes the fan base disinterested in even seeing what he does next year.  I just don't think things get better....as a Panther fan I'd love to be proved wrong if we keep him. 

[Ricky Spanish]

Dude, seriously, fug David Tepper if he goes another year with Matt Rhule expecting literally anything good to happen. ESPECIALLY if he trades for Watson. Not only is that deal morally questionable at the least, the amount of capital needed to make that move would be absurd. We have limited resources in terms of Cap and Draft picks thanks to Rhule's dipshittery from last offseason, how do we expect him to coax any halfway decent OL in FA? I don't see Rhule's "process" as a very enticing thing for guys looking to get paid, and I CERTAINLY don't trust Rhule's dumbass to evaluate and acquire a diamond in the rough OL FA. 

The closer we get to the offseason, the more pissed off I'm getting anticipating nothing happening which will lead to another wasted year of Carolina Panthers football in 2022.

[Reebis21]

39 minutes ago, ellis said:

From there, what is Matt’s comfort zone? Can he find a viable, NFL proven coordinator to own to O? Perhaps a new OL coach, too. Might not hurt to have a former NFL head coach on staff, something Ron eventually did, and something Matt talked about wanting to do when he was hired. That would require him to fish outside of the Temple/Baylor pond.

On the flipside, how attractive is this OC job with Matt firing Joe as early as he did, Matt meddling in the O as much as he does, and Sam Darnold staring you right in the face?

This is part is so often overlooked when saying Rhule will stay another year. No current OC is going to join Rhule’s staff via a lateral move (no promotion) knowing Rhule will probably get fired. That’s far too risky. So it’d have to be a positions coach. And now we’re back to having an OC without experience. So this option makes no sense.

Then u look at it from Rhule’s perspective. He’s not going to hire an OC who might have a chance at replacing him because that would make it that much easier for Tepper to let Rhule go mid season. So that rules out maybe an older OC who might have sat out of coaching last year. For example, how Ron hired Norv Turner.

So where does that leave us? Either a lame duck year with Rhule and whoever the hell. Or we once and for all did ourselves of this problem and let Rhule go now.

Edited January 8, 2022 by Reebis21

[LinvilleGorge]

Just now, Rocky Davis said:

You are right and I hope he continues to say no!  It would set us back and even as good as he has been, I just don't see him making us more competitive for what his cost would be.

I think keeping Rhule just makes the fan base disinterested in even seeing what he does next year.  I just don't think things get better....as a Panther fan I'd love to be proved wrong if we keep him. 

Maybe that's the wakeup call Tepper needs - guys like Watson and Wilson just straight up telling him "Man, I ain't coming there to play for that bullshit ass mid-major college coach and his HS offense behind no OL. HARD PASS."

[Ricky Spanish]

Also, "Rhule just needs to hire good coaches". Ok, what halfway decent offensive coaches are:

a) Available 

b) Actually willing to work for Rhule in a potential one year lame duck situation?

Keeping Rhule and actually expecting things to get better in any realistic fashion is just not feasible. 

[TLGPanthersFan]

19 minutes ago, ellis said:

Hard to say. Like I said, Joe seems pretty adamant from his sourcing that Tep and Co will revisit the possibility of Watson this off-season. I’ve heard this from others, Albert Breer being one. Again, nobody really truly knows, but those are a couple of well-sourced reporters. 

The few people I know around that operation have hinted at this, as well. Ultimately, I think they will look to land Watson or Wilson via trade, potentially offloading Sam somehow, and turn their attention to OL early-ish in the draft (problem being…you’re low on picks).

Should that fall through, perhaps they aim to draft Pickett or another rook QB. Plenty of eval coming up from the scouting department on these QBs, and other positions. I don’t know if they’ll pull off the Watson/Wilson thing, but especially Watson, I really think there’s something to it. I’m not advocating it, I think there’s potential to set things back a little bit in terms of roster building and draft capital w a Watson deal, but some would argue his talent transcends all that. Plus, the off the field stuff that remains fairly dubious would concern me. We’ll see.

Wilson did say yesterday he wanted to finish things out in Seattle, but it’s early yet. There is the Fitterer/Schneider/Pete connection, and I’m sure they will make a phone call. 

Again, I’m just trying to view this from a player perspective: do I give myself the best opportunity to win a championship with Matt Rhule and some of their roster deficiencies. It’s a conundrum.

When you say Rhule is coming back is it gonna be with a ton of asterisks attached to that 3rd year? Like make the playoffs or you will be fired?

If Rhule comes back no way should he have any control at all. If he refuses to give up control fire him. 

[LinvilleGorge]

1 minute ago, Ricky Spanish said:

Also, "Rhule just needs to hire good coaches". Ok, what halfway decent offensive coaches are:

a) Available 

b) Actually willing to work for Rhule in a potential one year lame duck situation?

Keeping Rhule and actually expecting things to get better in any realistic fashion is just not feasible. 

Remember him talking about having an ex-HC on the staff? Prepare yourself. Welcoming the new OC of YOUR Carolina Panthers...

JA-SON GAAARRRREEETTTT!!!

Jason Garrett at OC and Jimmy G at QB. It's coming.

[Rocky Davis]

1 minute ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Tepper really thinks Rhule is the right guy, they just need to find the right QB. Nevermind that Rhule and his staff have been quickly figured out over the course of a few games in both of his seasons. Both years we played our best football early and the more tape opponents got to study the worse we looked. That's be wise we don't have NFL level coaching.

Yep, the Panthers were solved in week 4 and nothing has changed since.

Rhule and his staff make no adjustments whatsoever and seem to think a college/high school level playbook on both sides of the ball is just fine.  This is why he needs to go....he is out of his league and I guarantee you he knows it.  If he wants to survive he brings in an experienced NFL OC/Head Coach to coordinate his offense and let that coordinator have a lot of say in filling out the offensive staff.  He also needs to bring in some defensive staff with some NFL experience as well.  I know Snow is probably safe if Rhule is, but maybe hire a special assistant to the DC who has experience at the pro level.  We gotta make some wholesale changes and if Rhule is smart he does it.  If he is stubborn and Tepper let's him have his way I don't even want to watch the clown show they put out there in 2022.  I am fed up with this mediocrity.

[Rocky Davis]

3 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Remember him talking about having an ex-HC on the staff? Prepare yourself. Welcoming the new OC of YOUR Carolina Panthers...

JA-SON GAAARRRREEETTTT!!!

Jason Garrett at OC and Jimmy G at QB. It's coming.

I passed you a beer, but I will be spouting hellfire and brimstone if this poo happens. 

Again, the best decision Tepper can make is blow this poo up, swallow the fact that he made a terrible hire, know 2022 is going to suck azz and get a HC and staff with NFL experience....he would be able to hire someone if he did this!!