The messed-up part about being an NFL owner is that on-the-job learning comes at the cost of human capital. Good people and players are thrown under the bus while a (supposed) winning formula is crafted.
And so, we get days like Monday, when Frank Reich, a coach who was perfectly capable in Indianapolis; who won games with five different starting quarterbacks in five years; and, according to those in the Colts’ building, was a consistent example of humility during difficult times; and, as Eagles OC, was instrumental in winning the Super Bowl with a team quarterbacked by Carson Wentz and Nick Foles, was fired just 11 games into his Panthers tenure.
We can say, and perhaps David Tepper will intimate, that the progress on No. 1 pick Bryce Young wasn’t there. Reich is a former NFL quarterback who brought with him Josh McCown, another well-traveled NFL passer, as quarterbacks coach. This was supposed to be the schematic equivalent of a tap-in. Instead, Young has registered as one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL this year in terms of my favorite stat to evaluate the position, a combination of expected points added per down plus completion percentage over expectation.
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But everyone with a set of eyes and access to NFL game film can tell this is a far more complicated story, and one that begins with the single person whom Tepper cannot fire nor blame for this mess.
The Panthers’ roster is embarrassingly awful. In Young’s first season as a full-time NFL starter, his most consistent receiving threat has been a 33-year-old Adam Thielen. Starting alongside Thielen were rookie second-round pick, Jonathan Mingo, Terrace Marshall Jr. and free agent DJ Chark Jr. The offensive line ranks 25th in pass block win rate and 31st in run block win rate, according to ESPN analytics.
Under Tepper’s watch, the mismanagement of the roster and its draft equity has raised alarm bells elsewhere in the NFL. Notably, the team’s refusal to trade Brian Burns at the 2022 deadline, with a trove of picks on the table, followed by an inability to sign Burns to a long-term extension. By the time this season’s deadline rolled around, his value on the open market had been torpedoed. Even before this point, the way in which the team threw around picks and cash rivaled that of the post–Tom Brady Patriots in terms of pure confusion and ineffectiveness.
Of note:
The team traded for Stephon Gilmore in 2021, spending a sixth-round pick, and let him walk in the offseason despite his asking price coming in at roughly $7 million per year for a premium position. Gilmore, now with the Cowboys, remains one of the top 25 cornerbacks in the NFL.
The team traded for C.J. Henderson, also in 2021, spending a third-round pick. Henderson is still on the roster, but, in his first partial season for the Panthers, he allowed a staggering 120 quarterback rating to opposing passers when throwing in his direction. This year, Henderson has allowed 70% of the passes thrown his way to be completed, and an opposing quarterback rating of 106.
The team traded sixth- and seventh-round picks for Laviska Shenault Jr., who has caught 37 balls in two years, 12 of which have gone for first downs.
The team traded for Sam Darnold, spending second-, fourth- and sixth-round picks, and picked up his fifth-year option. Darnold played 18 games for the Panthers, with 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. The Panthers eventually brought in Baker Mayfield to compete with Darnold before letting Darnold walk.
The team traded Christian McCaffrey, one of the best weapons in the NFL, a lifelong Panther and a player who would have been an invaluable asset for an incoming rookie quarterback, for second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-round picks. The second-round pick was then bundled in a massive trade to move the Panthers up to No. 1 in the 2023 draft (more on that later) and the third- and fourth-round picks were bundled to select linebacker DJ Johnson, who has played in eight games during his rookie season, logged one tackle for loss and one pass defensed along with 14 total tackles.
Then, the big one: The Panthers sent DJ Moore, another potentially invaluable asset for an incoming rookie quarterback, two first-round picks and two second-round picks for the No. 1 pick in the draft. There is a belief that Young was not Reich’s top choice, though these draft postmortems have a rich revisionist history.
All of this set the table for a roster that is perforated at critical positions and will still be expensive to maintain despite its clear failure as an assembled unit.
This would be easy to blame on the current general manager, Scott Fitterer, had Tepper not shown the propensity to be involved early and often. That includes his oversight from the draft room, where he weighed in on trade strategy, to, at least according to what I’ve heard, some major coaching decisions as well as the overall construction of Reich’s staff at large. Reich’s toggling between the play-caller and being in a support role to Thomas Brown would seem to back that up. From a 30,000-foot view, the team’s constant vacillation between buyer, seller, long- and short-term thinker, and the destruction that has ensued, is squarely on ownership’s shoulders.
A few weeks back, Reich, at a press conference made note of Tepper’s hands-on nature, which, so far, has gotten Tepper the Matt Rhule era (11 wins in three years) and now the truncated Reich era, which has produced one win in 11 games. From someone as seasoned as Reich, who had experience coaching in Philadelphia, which is currently one of the most studied structures in the NFL, it could have been seen as a bit of unsolicited advice.
But Tepper did not back off. He didn’t even consider making defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, a future NFL head coach, his interim, despite the fact that Evero has already received head coaching interviews and could again this offseason despite the team’s horrific record. This, as Tepper searches for a permanent replacement for Reich, could prove to be another significant misstep. Along those lines, Tepper seems to be shoehorning Brown into an offensive coordinator role, when many who know Brown feel he is a better natural leader and an overseer, a head coach type. We won’t know whether McCown is an adept play-caller this season.
Of course, there does not seem to be anyone in Carolina willing or able to communicate this (a similar trend seems to be brewing with Tepper’s MLS franchise). The Panthers have only regressed since Tepper purchased the club. He is successful and smart enough that it stands to reason one day Carolina will be good again. One day, Tepper can blend his business successes into something that benefits the operation of a successful sports franchise. Until then, how many good people will fall under the bus?
