Panthers News: David Tepper, Shaquill Griffin, injuries and Mike Tomlin
By Dean Jones
Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper slammed
David Tepper has once again come under fire this week. The Carolina Panthers owner fired Frank Reich after a dismal start to the campaign. This was swiftly followed by a damning report from Joe Person and Dianna Russini of The Athletic highlighting the complete dysfunction and backstabbing within the organization.
Nobody who's followed the Panthers closely was surprised by the revelations. Tepper's ego always needs pandering, which is something influential figures also recognize if The Athletic's report is accurate.
Peter King of NBC Sports went one step further when speaking on the Dan Patrick Show. The respected insider stated Tepper has now replaced Dan Snyder as the league's most incompetent owner. Something he feels should deeply concern fans.
"It's as big a mess as there is in the NFL. The Hunger Games mentality, coaches and staffers are texting the owner telling them what's wrong with the team. David Tepper has turned into the new Dan Snyder without the allegations. He's [George] Steinbrenner without the winning. He's a disaster. If you're going to fire a head coach 10 months into a tenure, you shouldn't have hired him in the first place. They didn't really believe in him. To take all the emails and texts from people within the organization, I'm assuming some if not most of them were Reich's doing a crappy job, this is what we should be doing, is ridiculous. Could you imagine a decent organization undercutting a head coach going to the owner? It's insane. It would really bother me if I were a fan of the Panthers right now."
- Peter King via YouTube
Tepper's bold claims about winning football and turning the Panthers into an industry leader were false promises. Until he alters his approach and stays out of the football operations, it's unlikely much will change.