4 reasons why the Panthers didn’t fire Matt Rhule this offseason
By Dean Jones
Carolina Panthers are banking on the magical ‘Year 3’
Matt Rhule arrived at the Carolina Panthers with a solid reputation for building up struggling college programs. His work at Temple and Baylor came in for significant praise and something that led David Tepper to pull out all the stops to get the head coach on board.
This was always going to take time and a period of transition was expected after long-standing head coach Ron Rivera was fired as well as leading veterans such as Greg Olsen, Cam Newton, and Luke Kuechly all departing at the same time.
However, there was little to no progress demonstrated by the Panthers in 2021, which was the clearest indicator yet that Rhule’s plan is not quite going as everyone had hoped.
The comments made by Rhule comparing himself to Jay-Z when trying to convince people his process was working came in for tremendous ridicule. But it’s worth remembering that it wasn’t until Year 3 at both college programs that substantial improvements were made.
Perhaps this was the deciding factor from Tepper’s perspective to give Rhule an opportunity to achieve the same at the next level. Although coaching and roster building in the NFL is a completely different animal.
Whether this trend continues in Carolina is the big question. One that doesn’t appear too likely given the team’s tough-looking schedule.