First, let’s deal with the Payton rumors. Based on conversations with a number of NFL executives and coaches, together with a number of who’ve ties to Tepper, league insiders don’t see this as a match. Many who know Payton effectively don’t consider he and Tepper would be a match, and the Carolina job comes with a number of pink flags. There is not any quarterback on the roster with whom coaches are desirous to work, and no trove of 2023 draft picks. (The Panthers have just four as of now, with probably extra to return in trades, as reported right here beforehand.) And it’s lengthy been accepted in NFL circles that the entrance workplace’s relationship with Rhule was past damaged by the center of final season if not earlier, elevating questions on the tradition Tepper has established at the same time as he bemoans the lack of a profitable soccer tradition.
The Panthers have expertise on protection, however the roster wants work. Tepper has no monitor report of profitable and the services aren’t particular. Oh, and going through the New Orleans Saints twice a yr would be a bit awkward for Payton, the man who coached the franchise to its solely Super Bowl title. The odds of Saints exec Mickey Loomis dealing Payton to a division rival are bleak.
“That’s only an attractive job if you have a chance to get a quarterback,” mentioned one NFL normal supervisor, not at liberty to discuss different workforce’s personnel selections. “They might get the first overall pick. But by the time we get to January, I don’t think this is the job everyone wants. Far from it.”
Another GM mentioned: “Tepper isn’t afraid to throw money around, but this won’t happen. [Loomis] wants to trade [Payton] to an AFC team. I can’t see Sean in Carolina, and he’s going to be able to speak with any owner [with a coaching vacancy] he wants.”
In quick: Not gonna occur.
Don’t rule out interim head coach Steve Wilks getting an actual probability to impress his new boss, nevertheless. Numerous individuals who have perception into the Panthers’ entrance workplace dynamic however aren’t permitted to debate it publicly, consider that when Wilks — a former member of the Panthers teaching workers held in excessive regard there — left his job as defensive coordinator at Missouri to affix Rhule’s workers as a secondary coach, it was for this precise situation. Wilks was the head coach in Arizona for one yr, and he has a really shut bond with Steven Drummond, the Panthers’ vp of soccer operations, who has basically change into Tepper’s main useful resource and most influential inside confidant, in keeping with quite a few folks conscious of that dynamic however precluded from commenting on it by their contracts with different NFL groups.
“You can’t bring in the defensive coordinator at Missouri in the offseason to replace your $10 million head coach,” as one rival government put it, “but if he wins a few games as the interim guy, it’s a much easier sell. I think he ends up getting the job. I truly believe he was brought in with this in mind. Nothing that has happened there has surprised me to this point.”
Another NFL government likened the energy and affect of Drummond inside the Panthers to that of beleaguered Texans government Jack Easterby, who additionally doesn’t have a personnel or soccer operations background, per say, however holds appreciable sway with possession and is consulted on and included in all key issues. “It’s the same dynamic as Easterby, it just doesn’t get as much attention,” that government mentioned.
Perhaps Wilks can string collectively some wins and make sufficient of an imprint to maintain the job. “He is in a position to be in consideration for the position,” Tepper mentioned of Wilks on Monday, saying he may get the place if he does “an incredible job.”
Should Tepper not go that route, some who know him and/or have labored with him in the previous consider he will lean into an offensive-minded head coach after the experiment with Rhule failed miserably. Going again to the school ranks is probably going a non-starter. Past success working with quarterbacks — given the failure to determine or develop one in Carolina — would in all probability loom giant.
Multiple normal managers instructed to me that, ought to Wilks not win the job, Carolina General Manager Scott Fitterer would strongly endorse Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. Fitterer and Quinn labored collectively at the top of the Seahawks’ reign and share a robust relationship, and Quinn, the former head coach in Atlanta, has helped create a dominant unit in Dallas. However, those self same GMs consider Quinn will have higher choices than Carolina.
Andy Reid disciple Mike Kafka, now incomes reward as a part of Brian Daboll’s workers with the Giants, has lengthy been seen as a training wunderkind, and if nothing else, him interviewing with the Panthers in a couple of months doesn’t appear to be a stretch. Some NFL groups wished to get an viewers with the 35-year-old Kafka, who retired as an NFL journeyman and entered teaching after the 2015 season, throughout his time as Patrick Mahomes’s quarterback coach, and his work with Giants QB Daniel Jones is producing warmth.
Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, 41, who changed Daboll as the play caller for Josh Allen in Buffalo, can also be well-known to the Panthers, having served in Carolina beforehand as a scout and a QB coach.
There has been appreciable league buzz about one other younger coordinator who wasn’t remotely on any head teaching radars at the begin of the season — and who doesn’t have a PR marketing campaign or a mega company pushing him to media or homeowners. Ben Johnson wasn’t seen as a hotshot fast-riser when he was named the Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator in February, however arguably no coach has raised his profile extra in the first third of the season than him. Tepper chasing somebody like Johnson hardly appears out of the query.
“The more I study him, the more I like,” mentioned one longtime NFL government who has been concerned in a number of profitable teaching hires however who can’t communicate publicly about potential candidates. “Pay attention to how his players talk about him. Look at the film and what he’s doing, not just with [quarterback Jared] Goff but that entire offense. It’s pretty special.”
What we do know, lastly, is that Rhule’s NFL days are over. And Tepper has a number of work to do.
