4 reasons the Carolina Panthers were right to fire Matt Rhule

Carolina Panthers had no identity on offense

There is no way to sugarcoat this. The Carolina Panthers offense has been abysmal under Matt Rhule and has only gotten worse with each passing season.

It all started with an injured Cam Newton, followed by Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Darnold. It finally ended with a shell of what was once Baker Mayfield.

This team was out of synch on offense from Day 1. Many assumed the firing of offensive coordinator Joe Brady would have helped things, but the absolute headscratcher hiring of Ben McAdoo in the offseason ended up being another nail in Rhule’s coffin.

Rhule was the driving force behind all of these initial hires. A damning indictment of his ability to read people and evaluate talent at the pro level.

The pieces are there for the Panthers to be competitive on both sides of the ball. But Rhule just never pushed the right buttons to get the most out of his players.

In fact, most regressed during their time with the team. Just look at Robbie Anderson.

This is not a good offense, which also lacks identity. Just looking at how this team ranks and the Houdini impression that has been D.J. Moore this season proves it.

How you forget one of the best receivers in the league is beyond me.

The Panthers are a team of “what ifs”. What if Christian McCaffrey had stayed healthy? What if Cam Newton had stayed healthy? And the biggest one of all – what if the team had never hired Rhule?