There will likely be more GM openings compared to the 2023 cycle. After the Raiders and Chargers fired their respective GMs in-season, the Commanders are expected to follow suit after the season. Given the turmoil in Carolina, it should also be viewed as likely the Panthers clean house.
Scott Fitterer is probably in his final weeks on the job in Carolina, with The Athletic’s Joe Person indicating many around the league point to the third-year GM being canned soon (subscription required). While Fitterer is well liked around the league, the Panthers have struggled during his tenure. Considering how quick David Tepper was to pull the plug on Frank Reich, Fitterer’s 2024 ouster has been rumored for a bit.
The longtime Seahawks exec loomed as a GM candidate for a stretch before his 2021 hire, and he signed on to work alongside Matt Rhule. The latter ran the show in Carolina during his three-year HC tenure, but Fitterer’s solo run has produced roster fireworks. The Panthers traded Christian McCaffrey shortly after Rhule’s firing, and they turned down a monster Rams offer (two first-round picks and a third-rounder) for Brian Burns. Bears negotiations in the winter included Burns and Derrick Brown, but Fitterer and Ryan Poles came to an agreement on a deal that sent D.J. Moore and a host of draft picks to Chicago for the No. 1 overall slot.
Tepper has widely been viewed as leading the charge for Bryce Young, but that swap has burned the Panthers early. Because of Carolina’s 2-12 record, Chicago is close to obtaining the No. 1 pick for a second straight year. It looks like Fitterer will pay the price. The Panthers sport a .292 win percentage since 2021, which matches the Bears for the NFL’s lowest during that span. The next Panthers power structure will be tasked with rebuilding Young, who is believed to have suffered from a complicated offensive approach built on combining Reich and OC Thomas Brown‘s visions.
As the Panthers remain connected to an offense-oriented coach — one who will be OK working with Tepper given the run the sixth-year owner is on — they look to be considering pairing that to-be-determined leader with DC Ejiro Evero. The Panthers are intrigued by the idea of Evero staying and working alongside the team’s next HC, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler notes.
A sought-after HC candidate this offseason, Evero ended up as the Panthers’ DC after the Broncos let him out of his DC contract. Evero interviewed for the Vikings and Panthers’ DC jobs, after meeting with Carolina about the HC job that went to Reich. Bolstering his reputation on Nathaniel Hackett‘s sinking Broncos ship last year, Evero became the rare in-demand coordinator from a 5-12 team. The Broncos also expressed interest in keeping Evero to team with Sean Payton, but the sides determined it was not a fit. Denver rehired Vance Joseph, while Evero’s stock has not dropped much despite Carolina’s 2023 futility.
A wide disparity exists between the Panthers’ points and yardage rankings on defense; Carolina ranks 29th in scoring defense but third in yards yielded. The Panthers’ pass defense also ranks third. DVOA leans toward the scoring number as more indicative of the defense’s true performance; Carolina’s defense sits 27th here. The Panthers have, however, played much of this season without top corner Jaycee Horn and linebacker stalwart Shaq Thompson.
It will be interesting to see if Tepper would consider forcing Evero upon his new HC. That seems like a stretch, considering the team’s unraveling after Steve Wilks‘ admirable interim effort and the owner’s own reputation likely to make a hire more difficult this year. But this scenario does look to be in play. If so, Evero would be on the verge of developing an interesting reputation for garnering praise despite being a DC for bad teams.
Poles has to worry that he is seeing his own future if the Bears miss on this draft, and no Caleb Williams is NOT the answer either.He screams bust, despite what those in the media are trying to make him out to be.
Hahaha Gross Incompetence all around
Evero is establishing a troubling pattern here…
Didn’t Tepper insist on Young over Stroud? That’s on him.
Accountability line for not addressing the O-Line doesn’t start and end with the GM; that’s a domino effect clusterfck.
Your big RB signing loses his starting role to the RB you already had on your roster … that’s psspoor coaching staff
Your best WR played on the same team as Methuselah & Moses? Your scouting department should be somewhere ensuring you know you can purchase a meal instead of just the Big Mac.
The NFL needs a 3 Year Probation Period for new owners lol
New owners who are incompetent.
We’ll see how it goes in Washington but the recent new owners have been synonymous with “incompetent”
It would be one thing if they were trying to just throw money at problems (like Cohen keeps trying with the NYM) but these guy graduate from winning their Country Club FFL and think they know how to build a real franchise.
Stick to what made you a billionaire and hire the best scouts, evaluators, and coaches possible.
He is also a terrible owner on typical owner stuff. He tried scamming South Carolina out of money on a new practice facility that he said would create jobs for South Carolinians. He wanted though SC tax dollars to go towards a facility in NC so none of the tax revenue from the facility would even go back. It was over priced, the job creation stuff was overblown, and even if they build it without SC money a bunch of people who live in SC near the border by Charlotte would be getting jobs anyway.
I remember that. Tepper’s people put out a release that blamed Rock Hill and the state of South Carolina for reneging on their deal on their end. It was a matter of minor controversy outside of the Upstate. Richardson had cultivated a standing relationship with Spartanburg and Wake Forest University (his alma mater, if I remember correctly) to keep South Carolina involved in the Panthers. This was to keep up the idea that the Panthers were a pan Carolinas team, despite being based in Charlotte. There was a lot of local economic tie-in to the offseason program there.
Tepper initially made some people very happy with his proposal, even after the huge tax break (a local politician, Dick Harpootlian-yes, that’s his name) railed against it, and coincidentally lost his district shortly thereafter…though, to be fair, he had some other unpopular agendae that did him in as well. In any case, Tepper going back on his agreement, and blaming the city and local government for it after getting approved for his tax package, left a bad taste in a lot of peoples’ mouths, especially after Richardson’s long term ties to the upstate of S.C.
A lot of people in Rock Hill work in Charlotte anyways so that deal wouldn’t have made any difference at all. Even the governor here didn’t like the deal it seemed like Tepper wanting free money. As for the whole Carolina thing the Hurricanes and Hornets do it too. All the teams are in NC and the whole ordeal is cynical pandering to get SC to show up even if they do nothing really in our state.
Yes, that’s true. Getting the package-which was a huge break for a state that, with no pro teams, rarely does that sort of thing, and was proportionately large for its population-and then complaining about it and pulling out was even more irritating for people that I observed.
I don’t think there is anything attractive about a job in Carolina.
Someone will take it to grab a bit of HC experience, but I think everyone knows this is a lower tier opportunity bc of the roster and owner.
They will be fired in two years and start again.
Even the GM position is unattractive. QB bust (likely) and no first round pick. Its not an easy sell, and I fully realize that there are only 32 of these jobs.
I wouldn’t take that job. Incompetent owner a QB who’s undersized and fragile emotionally and physically who had no business getting selected 1st overall
Not sure why anyone in their right mind would sign up to be the GM and Coach for Tepper. He’s a Jerry Jones wanna be with the brains of a Bidwell.
Has there ever been a team going into a season without a HC?
Only an abuse addict would want to work for Tepper
I’m shocked.
The league has become – owners with no concept of building a real football team but they come with buckets of cash. That’s what the nfl has become nothing but a cash cow investment. Provide a mediocre product that’ll give ‘fans’ enough hope in order to maintain interest and funding but the real ‘product’ is the cash dispersed into owner coffers.
We ‘fans’ have been fooled by memories of the nfl past. As during the 60-80s where men pitted their strength and athleticism against men of the same pith. Today’s nfl wants us to remember those days so we imagine we’re getting the same product.
But meddling owners swayed by the need for more money impose restrictions on the game that confuse players and officials and fans in order to increase controversy that maintains a continuous debate on the nuts and bolts whilst camouflaging that games are decided before the coin toss.
Fans should demand a return of the games with which we grew enamored. The only way to effect change is to impede the flow of green.
If your a drug addict unhappy with the product being supplied you can impede the flow of green by finding another source. For some fans, football is a similar addiction but Goodell and the owners have effectively eliminated the option of you finding another comparable source.
Hockey is rising.
No drugs in use here, although might be prevalent at owners meetings.
Carolina can no longer be taken seriously. They are fast becoming the reincarnation of Dan Snyder’s Redskins/Washington Football Team/Commanders. The owner has already overruled the football staff in deciding draft choices so before you know it they’ll announce they are bowing to animal rights activists and considering a name change.
Steelers need to trade word salad expert Tomlin to Panthers. Then let him hire the GM and run the whole show like he has in Pittsburgh. They will save a ton of $$$ on assistant coaches because he won’t hire anyone good. Franchise is already near rock bottom so he won’t have far to reach. Tepper is just what Tomlin deserves at this point. Maybe get a seventh round pick and a six pack in return!
Tepper should just make himself the GM. What could go wrong?
Looks like Tepper may be on his way out if there is any truth to the Epstein leak. Schefter reports he is on the list
The ‘list’ should be posted in every post office