As the 2024 hiring cycle continues, the Panthers remain a team to watch closely with a vacancy at both the head coach and general manager positions. Updates on both fronts have emerged. 
Carolina has included assistant general manager Dan Morgan in the team’s head coaching interviews, as detailed by Joe Person of The Athletic (subscription required). Morgan is one of three front office candidates who have a second interview lined up for the Panthers’ GM position. Regardless of he is ultimately hired in that capacity, Person notes Morgan is on track to remain in the organization in some fashion.
Morgan was a key member of Carolina’s front office during Scott Fitterer‘s three-year tenure in charge of the team. As a result, it would have come as little surprise if the latter’s firing had prompted owner David Tepper to clean house during the 2024 offseason. Instead, Morgan appears poised to either take over as general manager himself (a scenario in which, Person adds, an outside staffer with a salary cap background would be targeted to pair with him) or in some other role.
Carolina has cast a wide net in terms of potential GM candidates, but the same is true of the team’s HC vacancy. 11 candidates have been interviewed, and a 12th – Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson – received a request last week. Person reports, however, that Carolina is no longer interested in interviewing Johnson, who has met with other HC-needy teams during this year’s cycle.
Johnson was promoted from QBs coach to OC last offseason following Shane Steichen‘s departure. The Eagles started the campaign well, but the team’s late-season collapse culminated in a wild-card defeat in which they were limited to nine points. Philadelphia has, as expected, moved on from defensive coordinator Sean Desai. Johnson being replaced as OC is also firmly on the table, although he has interviewed with both the Falcons and Titans for their head coaching positions.
With coaches (other than the ones whose teams are set to play in the conference championship games) now free to interview in person, movement in the coaching carousel is expected to pick up in the coming days. The Panthers have a number of key decisions to make in the near future, and clarity will likely emerge soon in both of their ongoing searches.
NOOOOO!!!!! Please Carolina, take him! Hes great! We are a sucky team that doesnt deserve him wasting away here! PLEASE TAKE HIM!!! All of the other Eagles fans would agree with me, right guys?!?!
“Carolina is no longer interested in interviewing Johnson” – when the worst team says you suck too badly even for them, wow
It’s possible that Brian Johnson could have been overwhelmed in his first year as OC and still have a great future. but that would still mean that other teams might want to wait a few years before chasing him.
Morgan would be just another “Yes Man” to Tepper.