Last year, the Panthers fired Matt Rhule after a 1-4 start. Interim HC Steve Wilks then led the team to a 6-6 finish that left it still in the NFC South race until Week 17. Despite many of the same cornerstone players in place, Carolina’s 2023 edition has the NFL’s worst record.
Trading up significant assets to secure Bryce Young at No. 1 overall, the Panthers were never viewed as a team that would truly contend this season. But their disappointing first half has many around the league wondering if David Tepper will bail on the power structure he signed off on in January. One member of Carolina’s power duo may be on a hotter seat than the other, but both Frank Reich and GM Scott Fitterer do not appear certain to retain their jobs beyond this season.
Many around the NFL are eyeing this situation, with the Washington Post’s Jason La Canfora noting there is a strong sense Reich will become a one-and-done. Even within the Panthers’ building, La Canfora adds the belief is jobs are on the line going into the season’s second half. This would be a stunning flip-flop from ownership — especially after Rhule went from receiving a seven-year contract to being canned after Week 5 of his third season — but Tepper has not exactly gained a reputation for stability during his early years running the NFC South team. Indeed, Tepper’s reputation is driving the speculation Reich will be canned after just one season, Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline adds.
Tepper is believed to be irked by Young’s performance thus far, an NFL personnel exec informed La Canfora while adding the sixth-year owner drove the bus for the Alabama prospect. When the Panthers obtained the No. 1 overall pick, rumors of Reich preferring C.J. Stroud surfaced. Those steadily faded, as Young won the organization over despite his slight frame. The Panthers have seen Stroud hit the ground running with the Texans, and despite Carolina’s only win coming over Houston, the team has taken significant steps back compared to how it finished in 2022.
Among qualified passers, Young ranks only ahead of Ryan Tannehill in QBR this season. The former Heisman winner sits last in yards per attempt — at just 5.4 — and has thrown eight touchdown passes compared to seven interceptions. Young’s struggles should probably have been expected, given Carolina’s skill-position deficiencies. The team gave Miles Sanders the top RB contract in free agency; Chuba Hubbard has since leapfrogged the ex-Eagle for the starting role. Adam Thielen has gone from Vikings cap casualty to the Panthers’ No. 1 target, in his age-33 season. Thielen has been productive in Carolina; no one else in this skill group has. Neither DJ Chark nor Hayden Hurst — the latter receiving the top tight end deal this offseason — has topped 230 receiving yards this year.
After pointing to Thomas Brown being in consideration to call plays this offseason, Reich handed the duties off during the team’s bye week. Three games in, Reich took back the reins from the young OC. The Panthers did not top 15 points in a game during Brown’s short run calling the shots, and while the veteran HC said this about-face is not indicative of Brown’s long-term future, the quick change was certainly notable.
Reich beat out Wilks for the Panthers’ top job, with Tepper preferring an offense-oriented HC. The five-year Colts leader is the Panthers’ first offense-geared sideline boss. Well respected, Reich being fired from two HC jobs in two years would undoubtedly drop him back to the coordinator tier moving forward. Reich, 61, did pull back the curtain a bit on Tepper’s style earlier this season by pointing to the owner being heavily involved in football operations via the two’s weekly meetings. After the experience Reich had with Jim Irsay in Indianapolis, this is familiar territory.
But Reich may also not be the likeliest Panthers power broker to go. Fitterer should not be expected to weather this storm, according to Pauline. Fitterer arrived in 2021 to work with Rhule, following a successful tenure as a Seahawks exec, and was left in power ahead of the 2022 trade deadline. The veteran staffer pulled the trigger on a Christian McCaffrey trade, giving the Panthers four draft choices, but did not accept a Rams offer of two first-rounders for Brian Burns. The young defensive end was not believed to have drawn similar interest at this year’s deadline, which came after the Panthers could not extend him this offseason. A franchise tag is now expected for Burns, but it is far from certain Tepper will have Fitterer making that call.
Some members of the Panthers’ organization do not believe this is a well-assembled roster, and the team’s 1-8 record supports that. Despite being in a seller’s position, the Panthers pursued wide receivers — months after trading longtime No. 1 target D.J. Moore — at the deadline. Fitterer, who took a backseat to Rhule, has final say over Carolina’s 53-man roster. The Panthers lost to a Bears team missing Justin Fields; Carolina being in position to potentially hand over the 2024 No. 1 pick to Chicago would present difficult optics for Fitterer, who received a vote of confidence from Tepper after the Rhule firing.
Tepper firing Reich after one season would not make this a particularly attractive job, though the owner’s past authorizing big contracts for HCs and paying top dollar for assistants will help. This will be a situation to monitor during the season’s second half.
A team’s record is 60% talent, 20% strength of schedule, 15% coaching/game strategy, and 5% luck. Carolina’s roster is garbage, but their schedule was easy – thus some of the fault for their poor record clearly lies with the coaching staff.
And this is 100% pulled out of thin air.
If Tepper fires the coach and/or GM after overruling their QB choice, he may limit his future leader prospects to those on the Bill Belichick tree. No one else deserves to suffer under someone with that level of ineptitude…
Why is Bills last name pronounced Beli check verses Beli chick?
Agreed. This is one of those “well, what did you expect?” scenarios. Reich hasn’t been out of line, but you can tell from his public comments that Tepper is interfering substantially with the operation. No coach is going to want to work with that, and it’s going to actively hurt his results. I don’t think anybody would say that Reich’s staff has been a success story, but what type of impact does Tepper think firing yet another staff, before the year’s end at that, will have on his team? This, coming from an owner who put out that he wanted “stability” and that a calm, veteran presence in Reich would bring that (odd, that describes another coach that Tepper fired as well…) to help with a rebuild, seems disingenuous to me.
Fitterer I understand more, as he’s been there longer (a lifetime, seemingly, by the way Carolina’s going), but then again, Tepper seemingly hired him to just be a yes man in the first place. Reich may be failing right now, but Fitterer set the stage for this year roster wise, or at least as much as Tepper would let him in theory. The Panthers were lacking in talent year, and traded away what little they had. The decision to not re-sign Foreman was one of those seemingly small things that had me racking my brain (especially when he signed an under $2 million deal in Chicago-where they also proceeded to underutilize him until their other backs went down, but that’s another story). Burns is their only real future foundational piece left, since Chinn has been all but removed from the playbook, and Thielin is too old to be a future consideration, despite his current value to Young. There’s not much there for Reich to work with, before he even calls a play.
I believe if Tepper decides to can Reich after one season he’s going to try and do everything he can to hire Ben Johnson of the Lions and Ben Johnson will say thanks but no thanks. He’ll focus on the other more appealing jobs out there like possibly Washington or the Chargers.
I wouldn’t want the Carolin gig for my 1st HC job. It’s a dead end position under Tepper.
It is an easy division though. Look at the Texans finally made the right hire and very much in the race for 1st. Their roster isn’t much better than Panthers. They lost to them too.
New coaches deserve a shot no retreads.
To be fair, Carolina just tried that, with no success. Atlanta is in the midst of a third year with a first timer who may lose his job. On the other hand, the other two teams are in the midst of unsuccessful retreads themselves. Reich should be the best coach in that division by a long shot on paper, but the dysfunction of that team just illustrates how difficult it is to build a team culture before anybody even steps on the field.
A lot of factors have to work for a team to build success. Having a good coach is probably the biggest, alongside having at least above average roster talent. Sometimes experience helps, sometimes fresh perspective does. Patience with either usually helps.
Wouldn’t expect the Chargers to hire a known name or commodity, anymore.
Had a shot at Andy Reid, then maybe could of acquired Payton, fired Marty after a winning season – doesn’t seem to be much cleverness in Bolts management with regard to coaches
come back to philly as o.c.
I see Buffalo making a bid. He’s not only a beloved person for his quality backup play during the Super Bowl years, but McDermot and Beane seem to have an affinity for former Panthers.
Fitterer should get all the blame and be fired. The Panthers win total for the last 3 seasons is 5, 7, and 1.
I would not fire Reich even if the Panthers finish 1-16. He has a great track record, went to the playoffs with 2 different QB’s and almost got there with career backup Jacoby Brissett (went 7-9) after Andrew Luck retired 2 weeks before the season started, and of course he was the OC when the Eagles won the Super Bowl with Nick Foles.
Reich just needs another year and better players. The NFC South is very weak and probably will be for another couple years.
I agree with you. I do want to add this, though. Fitterer deserves blame, but then again, isn’t he what Tepper wanted? He grabbed a GM to play second fiddle to his handpicked (and inexperienced) coach, specifically hiring him from a place in Seattle where the GM took a backseat to the coach.
Carroll, of course, had a few NFL experiences that he learned from before going to Seattle. He also had an owner who was hands off, and gave him time to work things out.
Remember, while they weren’t terrible, the Seahawks did not have success initially in Carroll’s regime, and had a huge free agent signing in Matt Flynn that didn’t work out. They admittedly did shockingly qualify for the playoffs and more shockingly beat the Saints in 2010, but they weren’t a good team. Many analytical studies consider the 2010 Seahawks to be the worst team to ever make the playoffs, and that’s even with the 2014 Panthers and 2020 Washington. Carroll and Schneider needed time to build Seattle into a powerhouse, and a couple of years to find their QB. If Tepper expects to replicate Seattle’s success, he’ll need to first realize that he’s not working with the same circumstances. Even if he were, it still took three years for the Seattle to arrive. Reich is going to need time.
Unfortunately, Fitterer is no Schneider, and if you’re hiring a guy with the express purpose of being a yes man, you should kind of expect that. So, while I don’t think that Fitterer is any good as a GM, I also think that he’s exactly what Tepper wanted. And I think that we all know who was behind the Panther’s big trade up-and I don’t think that it was Fitterer.
That’s the issue with evaluating Fitterer. Tepper is one of the owners that prefers ti meddle in the team’s business rather than let the pros handle it. So it’s difficult to tell what moves are Tepper’s idea and which are Fitterer’s. I like to think that Tepper gives the idea and Fitterer works out the details. So in the Bryce Young trade, Tepper decided to make the move, while the Fitterer decided what to send to Chicago. If that is the case then Fitterer should absolutely be fired. The only player that should’ve been included in that deal would be a defensive player, as they have no effect on a QB’s development. Sending the team’s best receiver to Chicago was an idiotic move.
I agree completely. I understand the desire to protect Burns, but Carolina did not consider the trouble they are having in re-signing him. More importantly, Burns was so highly coveted that his inclusion probably would have saved them a few picks.
I’m really surprised Frank took the job offer. I mean he just spent the last few years w/ pain in the backside owner; why sign up w/ another? Guess he didn’t learn his lesson in Indy.
Good point about the owner. However, there does seems to be an age bias right now in the hiring of coaches. Frank is 61 years old in a league where every team wants someone under the age of 40. I don’t think he could afford to wait even just 1 or 2 years for a head coach position.
Frank is beyond rich, or should be. Been in the league since the 1990’s. At 61, he should be choosy what he wants in a job.
If I were in his shoes & had a choice of jobs; I’d be the OC for KC. You’re going to win! They all have wealth, but rings…that’s what’s all about.
Not sure if that position will be open. The team seems pretty happy with Matt Nagy. Though Chiefs fans should be concerned as he’s expected to succeed Andy Reid once he retires.
If Reich walks the plank, Panthers need to check on Eric Bienemy availability. He is doing very good work with developing Sam Howell this season. Howell leads the league in passing yards. Bienemy will gain players respect and Young may have better chance to develop into a franchise QB. I expect the Commanders new owner to want to hire a new coach so Bienemy maybe available at seasons end
I get that. My point was if the KC OC gig was open, I would jump after that. Best HC/QB in the league & by far. There’s going to be lots of fun, winning seasons for the foreseeable future.
He took it because he was finally going to have a possible long term QB. Colts changed up on him every year, he was desperate. Carolina really should have had a 1st timer HC. I get what they thought by trying to have a vet mind with a young HC.
If I was making the decision, I’d let Fitterer go but hold on to Reich for at least another year. Fitt has shown that he is not a good decision maker. Trading the team’s only good WR to get a QB was an incredibly dumb decision (especially since Chicago was willing to accept Brian Burns or Derrick Brown instead). He’s made plenty of questionable draft decisions (still confused why CB depth was never addressed in the draft). And is eager to trade picks despite the teams low slot numbers.
I’d keep Reich because it’s more the team his given that is causing the issues. Yes, last year did show that coaching makes a difference, but last year’s players were significantly better. DJ Moore was still there, O-line injuries were less prevalent, and not to mention a defensive minded HC better suited the team.
From the time he became owner, Tepper has gone from plan A to plan Z in record time. He just doesn’t have the patience to be an effective owner.
Can not blame Reich for the situation. Trading for Young as Stroud having a MVP and ROY performance. Management to blame.