Stephen Weatherly Admits He Got Complacent in Carolina, Won't Let That Happen Again

Stephen Weatherly had finally made it. Entering his fifth season in the NFL, he had signed a two-year, $12.5 million free agent contract to be a full-time starting defensive end for the Carolina Panthers. This was supposed to be the next big step in a football career that had required a lot of perseverance.

Coming out of high school in Atlanta in 2012, Weatherly was a low three-star recruit, ranked outside the top 800 players in the country according to 247 Sports' composite rating. He had plenty of Power 5 offers, but none from major powerhouse schools. Weatherly chose to attend Vanderbilt, where he redshirted as a freshman for a team that had won two conference games the prior year. He wasn't exactly on an obvious path to the NFL.

But Weatherly put together a solid three-year career at Vandy, recording 11.5 sacks, 26 total tackles for loss, and three forced fumbles. Decent numbers, although nothing that screams future NFL starter. The Vikings took a chance on his length and upside by selecting Weatherly in the seventh round, 227th overall, in the 2016 draft.

He failed to make the 53-man roster as a rookie, but Weatherly was able to stick around on the practice squad. He developed into a special teams contributor during his second season, but had seen fewer than 100 defensive snaps through two years in the league. Then came 2018, when Weatherly was thrust into a starting role in Week 3 while Everson Griffen was away from the team. He racked up 19 pressures and three sacks over the next seven games and never looked back, becoming a key rotational pass rusher for the rest of that season and all of 2019.

But now, in 2020, Weatherly was finally getting paid big bucks to be a key part of the Panthers' defense. He was thrilled that he had earned the contract and was excited about making his mark on a new team. However, as Weatherly admitted on Monday, he eased off the gas a little bit, and it cost him.

"One of the things I learned about myself is that I don’t need to be so safe," Weatherly said. "I need to keep reaching and striving forward. I openly admit that my time in Carolina, I was happy about the deal I signed and a little bit of complacency set in and that can’t happen. It’s definitely one more thing I’m bringing back (to Minnesota). That fight, that grind. Never let complacency set in again, especially when it comes to something like football."

Weatherly had a disappointing season with the Panthers, recording just 12 pressures and zero sacks in nine starts to open the year. Then, just when he says he was starting to put it all together, he suffered a finger injury that cost him the rest of the year. Weatherly was released by Carolina this offseason and was signed to a one-year, $2.5 million deal by the Vikings last week.

"It took me a while to get into a groove, to really learn how I was going to play, how I was going to fit into that defense," Weatherly said. "By the time I did learn how I was going to fit in, I ended up having that season-ending finger surgery, so it was very unfortunate."

It wasn't the season he was hoping for, but Weatherly said he learned some valuable lessons with the Panthers. He's "super excited" to be back in Minnesota and working with defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson.

"Just knowing the man he is, the coach that he is and what he has been able to do with my career from 2016 to when I left, I was super excited to get back under his tutelage and take another step forward and keep rising," Weatherly said. "No more steps back."

Weatherly, who said his finger is doing fine, may have a chance to come in and compete for a starting spot opposite Danielle Hunter. The Vikings have high hopes for second-year player D.J. Wonnum and will likely re-sign restricted free agent Ifeadi Odenigbo and add another DE or two via free agency or the draft. But regardless of what Weatherly's role ends up being, his knowledge of the defensive scheme — combined with what he learned in Carolina — should help him make an impact in 2021.

Even though his year away from Minnesota didn't go as planned, Weatherly gained some valuable perspective. He knows he has to trust what got him this far and keep pushing to get better.

"No matter what, I need to be striving and reaching for the next step and if I do slip or if I do fail, I failed because I was reaching for greatness."

The most interesting man in football

Weatherly has been dubbed "the most interesting man in the NFL." He can play nine different instruments and has a bunch of hobbies (baking, photography, puzzles, etc.) that aren't typically associated with professional athletes. He joined a virtual chess club last year in Charlotte that met every Thursday.

And after getting into glass blowing when he was in Minnesota, Weatherly got the chance to appear as a guest judge on the Netflix competition show "Blown Away."

"I watched it like I was watching film," Weatherly said of reviewing his performance on the show (Season 2, Episode 7). "I rewound it a couple times, watched it with mute to see my mannerisms and stuff like that. I never really broke myself down, like not in football, but I did for this. It was pretty dope. The whole experience was amazing. I watched it probably like 30 times."