5 ways the Panthers can best prepare for the future this offseason

Carolina Panthers need a more traditional process

When the Carolina Panthers decided to target Matt Rhule as the man to replace Ron Rivera, they weren’t alone in trying to lure the college coach from Baylor. The New York Giants were also keen on making him their guy, so team owner David Tepper had to go for broke to convince the respected program builder to join the organization.

The Panthers gave Rhule a seven-year, $72 million contract, which obvously tipped the scales in their favor. However, giving the head coach final say on all personnel decisions was another tempting proposition the former Temple man couldn’t turn down.

This has not been a great success, in all honesty. The complications at quarterback are a damning indictment of Rhule’s ability to make the correct calls and perhaps there is no better time for Carolina to return to a more structured and traditional method of roster building.

Scott Fitterer has an abundance of experience and success in front office positions. Dan Morgan and Samir Suleiman are also future general managers in the making, so why the Panthers remain insistent on giving Rhule the final say is absolutely bizarre unless it is actually written into his contract.

These are smart football people David Tepper should be leaning on.

Instead, his pride is getting in the way of what needs to be done.

Whether this can turn around dramatically during the 2022 offseason is debatable. But it’ll come with pretty big ramifications one way or another.