When the Carolina Panthers broke training camp in Spartanburg, there was a sense of hope. A sense that things would begin to turn under the new leadership of veteran head coach Frank Reich, a star-studded coaching staff, and a prolific rookie quarterback.
Then things changed.
After an 0-6 start to the season, Reich began to feel the pressure and made the decision to give up the offensive play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Thomas Brown in an effort to provide some sort of a spark. They managed to win ugly against the Houston Texans in Brown's first game calling the shots but followed it up with two clunkers. Reich took back the play-calling but not for long as he would be fired following a road loss to the Tennessee Titans.
Last year when the Panthers fired Matt Rhule, they made an incredible run down the stretch under interim head coach Steve Wilks and nearly won the NFC South division. They came no where close to doing such a thing this year and that's not on Chris Tabor, but more on GM Scott Fitterer who put this roster together.
I like Scott a lot and think he's an intelligent football mind but he's made some critical mistakes early in his tenure and it's difficult seeing him get a chance to right those wrongs moving forward. After three consecutive losing seasons and possibly the worst season in franchise history, I don't believe owner David Tepper has any choice but to move on from the general manager he hired just two years ago.
But I wouldn't stop there. I would re-evaluate the entire front office, scouting department, and roster. I'm not mentioning the coaching staff because that will be addressed once a new head coach is hired. When things go as badly as they did, you have to hit the reset button. You find a way to keep the small core of talented players you do have and allow the new head coach and GM to come in and build around it.
Outside of Bryce Young, Derrick Brown, Brian Burns, Jaycee Horn, Frankie Luvu, Ikem Ekwonu (too early to move on) and probably Taylor Moton, no one else is safe. This roster needs retooled in a major way, particularly on the offensive side of the football.
It might mean that there will be upwards of thirty new faces that make up the 53-man roster but that just might be what it takes to establish a new culture and a winning one for that matter.
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