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Obvserver’s Alexander interview with Fitterer

raleigh-panther

By raleigh-panther,
in Carolina Panthers

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raleigh-panther Grand Master

raleigh-panther

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Nothing earth shattering 

Behind the mind of Scott Fitterer: A Q&A with the Carolina Panthers’ GM
 
BY JONATHAN M. ALEXANDER
7 hours ago

In the lobby of The Breakers hotel, where the NFL held its annual owners meetings, you’re likely to run into a league or team official, whether that’s an owner, a general manager or commissioner Roger Goodell.

Running into Goodell didn’t happen for me, but before catching my flight back to Charlotte, I did sit down with Panthers’ general manager Scott Fitterer on Tuesday afternoon for a one-on-one interview to talk his philosophy on the draft, being a fan favorite and whether Carolina could trade back, draft a quarterback or bring back Cam Newton. 

Here is our conversation:

Jonathan M. Alexander: Your specialty has been through the draft coming up through the Seahawks, what’s been your philosophy on drafting and evaluating quarterbacks during your time and what you’ve learned?

Scott Fitterer: I don’t think it’s all about the physical tools. Obviously, there’s a certain baseline you need. You need the arm strength, you need some mobility, awareness in the pocket. You have to be able to process quickly, but it really comes down to who is the guy. Is he the guy that’s poised? Does he have the command? Does he have the leadership? There’s a makeup you want in the quarterback position. That’s what separates him from the other guys. A lot of guys come in really, really talented, but don’t quite reach the potential that maybe they have because they are missing a few things. ... That’s what we are trying to figure out. 

JMA: When was the first time you realized you wanted to be a GM? 

SF: I kind of fell into scouting. It’s weird to say. I was playing baseball at the time. I didn’t play football in college. And a lot of my roommates were getting drafted at that point. Got into scouting through a friend, through an acquaintance who gave me an opportunity. And I just kind of took it from there. I’ve always loved football. Baseball was easier, but I loved football. Once I got into scouting you realize how it really works behind the scenes. I was really intrigued by that. And having mentors like Ted Thompson, I became enamored by the GM spot, being able to build a team, being able to build through things. Growing up, I never thought about being the GM, I always wanted to be a quarterback. 

JMA: Panthers fans have an affinity for you. They have memes of you with laser eyes. You have a fan club. Do you see that?

SF: (Laughs) I don’t because I don’t do a lot of social media stuff. I’m not on Instagram. Sometimes my kids will show me. Nicole Tepper has sent my wife a couple of things before. So I have seen them. It’s fun, but it comes down to you have to win. So those memes might look a little bit different if you’re not winning. It all comes down to doing it the right way and building the team right. 

JMA: How were you all able to find or identify a guy like Russell Wilson, and did you realize beforehand, like, ‘Oh, he can be a franchise guy?’ 

SF: This is kind of an interesting story. John Schneider was the GM at the time, went and evaluated Russell on campus early in the fall. He came back and said, ‘Fitt, I found our quarterback.’ I’m like ‘Who? I thought you went to Wisconsin?’ He said, ‘I did. Russell Wilson. I’m going to take that guy in the first round. This is our guy.’ And he knew right away because he saw him on the field, the command we talked about a little bit earlier. He said, ‘He has that.’ And he learned the playbook in like three weeks, became the captain right away, he has something special to him. I’m like John, ‘He’s like 5-10 1/2.’ Every quarterback at that time was like 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. 

He goes, ‘Yeah, but if you really look at it, the balls aren’t getting batted down, he’s moving in the pocket, he’s doing a lot of different things.’ So as we went through the process, we really kind of were drawn to him. There were a lot of quarterbacks that year, but he was like the one guy that had that ‘it’ factor to him. So we interviewed him at the senior bowl, and then the combine we kind of stayed away from him. We knew we were going to go down that road. And we just kind of played it really quiet with him and we took him. 

And I think we knew the first minicamp was like a week or two after the draft, he came in, they mic’d him up and once he stepped in the huddle, he wasn’t a rookie. He owned that position. We had gone through three, four or five quarterbacks. We had all these guys coming through and we kept swinging till we found one.

It’s kind of the same situation we’re going through right now. We’re going to keep swinging on quarterbacks, taking shots until we find that guy that can lead our team.

JMA: I assume Russell changed your perspective on how you evaluate quarterbacks. 

SF: Oh, yeah. We looked at a lot of different factors. 5-10. What really other 5-10 quarterbacks have been successful. And Pete, I think brought up Fran Tarkenton. The sample size was very, very small. And OK, so usually we don’t take these guys, but what are the compensating factors. The compensating factors were intelligence, the processing, the ability to move and slide in the pocket to see windows, the ability to throw through them and not get balls batted down. We knew we’d probably give up the short stuff over the middle, but every other part of the game was there. And especially in the third round, he was still sitting there, it was a no-brainer at that point. 

JMA: Do you feel like any of the quarterbacks in this draft have that type of potential to be diamonds in the rough?

SF: Yeah, I do. Without giving too much away, I think there are guys. I think at the pro days you definitely saw it. I think (Kenny Pickett) is probably the most accomplished, most steady, probably closest to playing. You put him in games and you feel good about it. I think the other two guys have really special traits in different ways. I think Malik’s (Willis) athleticism and arm strength is excellent. He’s a great prospect to work with. And (Matt) Corral had this really live arm, quick release and the ball jumped out of his hand. All three of these guys are a little bit different. There’s some arguments that are they the elite guys that come out in the past. Again it comes down to maybe, you take a swing until you find him.

Desmond Ridder, you look at him, he’s got a unique leadership skill set. Really, really smart. So they all bring something different to the table. It’s how are we going to take that and fit that into our offense, what can (offensive coordinator Ben) McAdoo do with them and how do we surround him to support them. And we have to decide, is this a guy that we think can be the guy. You don’t want to pick in the top 10 too often, so maybe you take a shot on a guy. 

JMA: Do you see an opportunity to trade back? 

SF: I think there will be opportunities. It’s going to someone to really want one of those tackles, pass rusher, maybe they like (Ahmad) Gardner, or a quarterback. So we’ll keep everything on the table. We’re very open to trading back. Obviously, filling some of those draft holes we’re missing. But like I’ve said, if we feel like there is someone who can come in and play for us for eight years, we’ll take that person. 

JMA: After missing out on Deshaun Watson, was there any serious consideration to find a free agent quarterback, or was it always in the plan to look in the draft?

SF: No. We don’t want to just take a quarterback to take a quarterback, or sign a quarterback to sign a quarterback. Obviously, there are things that might shake free in the future that we might be more interested by, but right now we don’t want to force anything to get someone in. If Cam (Newton) is sitting there and he feels it’s the right fit at some point, maybe he’s an option to come back. A lot of that is going to be in his hands. Does he want to come back? Does he want to take this role? We’re very open to that. But we weren’t just going to run out and sign a guy to sign a guy. We want to have an upgrade.

JMA: When y’all say it has to be right for us, what is right for you all in regards to Cam?

SF: It has to be the right role. Be willing to come in — to me it’s still an open competition. Until someone owns that position, the door is open for us. If the time is right, if he sees a fit, and we see a fit, then we’ll bring him back. You can’t have enough guys like him in the building from a leadership standpoint, from a presence standpoint, an example for that room. Plus he’s an intense, elite competitor, and that rubs off and that’s the type of guy we want.

JMA: Dan Morgan seems to be a guy that is next in line to be a general manager. And Samir Suleiman, too. Morgan interviewed for the GM job with the Steelers. What do you think about his future? 

SF: Dan’s future is unlimited. He’s got a good leadership style to him. He’ll go and spend a lot of time with the pro guys and say this is what we want. He’ll push guys. He brought a lot of information from Seattle and Buffalo. He brings the player background to it. He’s great with relationships in the agent community, inside the building. He’s a really good scout on top of it. 

And Samir is going to be the same way. Samir is coming from the administrative cap side, but he’s a really smart guy. We involve him in the scouting process. He knows the value of players. He’ll have opportunities, and eventually Pat Stewart is going to have that. Cole Spencer will have that. The whole goal is keep developing our personnel staff so they have those opportunities to be become personnel directors and GMs. That’s what we’re trying to do here. 
 

JMA: I know hindsight is 20-20, but when you all made some of the in-season moves and they didn’t work out, did you feel like that was part of what you had to do, or is that something you wouldn’t have done, looking back on it. 

SF: I think at the time, we made the best decision for the team. We’re not going to add through free agency and the draft and just sit back. We’re going to be active on the waiver wire and through trades. People were thinking like hey, when we traded for C.J. Henderson, he’s not a superstar. Well no, it’s also why he was the No. 8 pick because he’s got this unlimited skill set. He is an elite athlete. But it was not the right spot for him in Jacksonville. So a change of scenery, he comes here, we’re going to work with him. And if he’s only a No. 2 or No. 3 corner, it’s still pretty good for a third-round pick. 

A lot of times it takes time for a young guy to grow. But it’s our job to keep developing these guys and hopefully crack that ceiling and let them grow. 

Stephon (Gilmore) was a great addition. A sixth-round pick a year out from now, so we acquired those for nothing. To add a guy like that with his leadership, his ability to teach the players around him. Coaches can only do but so much. Players watch players. They see how they study film and how they work on the field. 

JMA: With the cap space you have, do you anticipate making another big move, or some more small moves?

SF: We want to have the flexibility to do both. That’s why we don’t want to spend every dollar. Whatever money we have we can always carry next year. But in order to maximize what we can do, get ready for what’s next, we want to have that flexibility cap-wise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Proudiddy Grand Master

Proudiddy

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1 hour ago, ThPantherFan said:

I guess we're not taking Pickett or Malik.

He also just said they purposely avoided Russ in SEA after the Senior Bowl because they knew they were going to take him and didn't want teams picking up on it.

Hard to really evaluate anything draft-wise at this point.

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saX man Mentor

saX man

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My one takeaway is that its Nicole who likely snoops around our subreddit and here.  So, she's definitely letting David know what the general mood is and what's trending with the team.  He's in tune with the current atmosphere and opinions of Rhule.

Makes you wonder a few things...

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La Pantera Experienced

La Pantera

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2 minutes ago, OldhamA said:

They've managed to properly evaluate him behind the worst OLine in Panthers history?

Damn they're good at their jobs. 

Not even close to the worst line panthers have had. Do you remember having shitty Dlinemen playing Online?

Sam is what he is at this point in his career. You don't need year FIVE to know this 

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