Dan Morgan's culture restoration intent can reinvigorate Carolina Panthers

Dan Morgan's intent to restore the proud culture can reinvigorate the Carolina Panthers en route to a potentially brighter future.

Dan Morgan's seen some good times and bad during his spells with the Carolina Panthers. He also knows what this once proud organization stands for from a cultural standpoint. Something that's been lost since David Tepper assumed ownership.

Now that he's got the president of football operations/general manager position, Morgan once these proud traditions restored as a matter of urgency. That, above all else, is the biggest immediate objective.

Dan Morgan reveals ambitions for the Carolina Panthers

It was fascinating to hear Morgan and head coach Dave Canales discuss the vision for the franchise during their introductory pressers. Both seem aligned, which hasn't been seen in Carolina for some time. Both acknowledged that becoming a contender isn't going to happen overnight, but it will happen through perseverance, patience, and keeping the bigger picture in mind.

Morgan was brought up in NFL terms within the Keep Pounding mantra. Sam Mills was his position coach. This tough-natured approach brought a physical brand of football with a never-say-die attitude. For a period, the former linebacker was the embodiment of that.

These are traits Morgan is keen to see restored to the Panthers for the modern era based on presser comments via the team's website. Something he'll be striving to accomplish by finding the right players capable of meeting these exceptionally high standards set by generations past.

"We're super passionate about bringing a team that the fans can be proud of, players they can be proud of. Like, when teams drive up to the stadium, we want them to fear that logo. The logo has to be feared again because right now it's not feared. So we've got to get that back, but I think it starts with getting the right type of players. We need to find those leaders, those competitors; as J-Stew would say, those dogs. We need some dogs. Like, we've got to get some guys that are passionate about football, that love football. They want to come out every day and compete on the practice field in the weight room. We need competitors. We've got to bring that back here."

- Dan Morgan via Panthers.com

There have been far too many players just going through the motions. More importantly and unacceptably, they were allowed to.

Morgan will know plenty about the characters currently around after witnessing their behaviors during one of the worst seasons in franchise history. For all the question marks about his connection to Carolina's suspect roster construction as Scott Fitterer's right-hand man, he knows how to spot the dogs from those who don't possess the intestinal fortitude to dig deep when times are toughest.

Fans have been duped by introductory pressers before. Some are proceeding with caution despite Morgan and Canales leaving a positive impression. Others are fully bought into the project almost in the blink of an eye.

Realistic expectations lie somewhere in the middle. Rome wasn't built in a day. There is a significant amount of work ahead to mold this roster to Morgan's liking. Anyone who doesn't get with the program will be swiftly moved on. Simply put, the Panthers cannot afford to have any passengers whatsoever on their critical upcoming journey.

As Morgan stated, it's been a long time since Carolina's disillusioned fanbase had a team to be legitimately proud of. It's about time that changed.