First question for Rhule was "what are your plans for Cam Newton?" He did a nice job giving the appropriate non-answer, although the lack of "We're excited to have Cam as our starter next year" and need to evade instead could be somewhat telling.
Wow..so this doesn't inspire tons of faith in Tepper from me. Why on Earth would you pay someone so unproven, so much!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...0na?li=BBnb7KzRhule signed a seven-year, $60 million deal with the Panthers that could be worth up to $70 million if he meets incentives. As one NFL coach told Robert Klemko of The Washington Post, other owners around the league are angry with David Tepper for shelling out so much money.
I figured we may have gone after Rhule because he was a bargain get. So much for that.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
I initially had the same take, but I've had my mind changed. Coaching salary is his money to burn. Doesn't come out of our free agent budget or anything. I have no doubt if it's an obvious disaster Tepper will eat the money and make a change.
I'm surprised we're paying so much, but ultimately I decided that as a fan I don't have to care about how much we pay the coach.
What if Tepper has made his billions by his gut feeling....which is likely the case....making him one of the richest pro sports owners in the world. Maybe Ruhle is another gut feeling. I mean, I agree that they coulda gotten him for less money....but this was the owner's call.
Only time will tell if offering Rhule big money was a smart decision or a huge risk.
As far as other owners being pissed, this is not news.
NFL owners money is literally more than anyone can spend in a lifetime and likely generations of lifetimes.
Let them squabble among themselves.
As had been speculated previously, looks like the Panthers have tabbed Joe Brady to be OC.
I mean, it depends which fans you were asking, there were plenty actively hoping we would get Brady (I wasn't one of them, I was mostly ambivalent because I don't know enough about footbal coaches to properly evaluate who is available and who I would want us to target)...this is the same kind of confirmation bias we see on DBR where people start claiming "the whole board" was taking some position when it was really just some handful of posters. This is a pet peeve of mine.
Anyways.
As far as the higher, Brady is by all accounts a top up and coming offensive mind, so you have to like that (I'm not football-smart enough to evaluate him for myself, I just have to take everyone's word for it). On the other hand, I have some trepidation about the extreme lack of experience at 2 of the three primary coaching positions (virtually no pro experience at all, and pretty minimal experience even at the college level). Will be curious who else we bring on...cautiously optimistic that these guys will come out like gangbusters with a good team and great offensive scheme but I hardly think it is a sure thing at this point. Wait and see mode until we get some game action next year.
Elsewhere in the Panthers universe, Luke Kuechly has announced his retirement.
Luke walks away from $10.8M next year, and he leaves a monstrous hole in the center of a defense that was already in severe rebuilding mode. I was pretty shocked honestly; I figured the Panthers would keep him at least thru the end of his contract and then maybe let him walk. Tepper's going to have to go after some expensive FA's, b/c there aren't enough players on the roster to field a team at this point. And you can't replace a Luke Kuechley.
Luke didn't say why he was retiring, but the concussion theory is the best explanation I have seen. He's had two big ones that we know about, and likely several more. I wonder if he was starting to see the effects of cognitive decline and decided to step away instead of risking further damage to himself.
Current prospects for the Panthers in 2020 look very dim. They are in full on rebuilding mode now, and are going to need a rock solid draft just to be competitive.
"There can BE only one."