How I would fix the Carolina Panthers

Step 1:

I would fire Scott Fitterer immediately, his attempts to trade for Higgins, Davante and Sweat were the final desperation moves of a failed GM tenure plagued with wasted draft capital. I am not sure how he survived Rhule’s tenure, I thought we should have completely cleaned house and started fresh. Tepper is learning how to be an owner on the fly, so I expect a full house clean in January.

Step 2:

Depending how Sunday vs the Cowboys goes, I would potentially fire Frank Reich and promote Ejiro Evero as the interim. I think we can already tell Frank is not the right fit to lead this team. He is soft spoken, does not inspire confidence and our team comes out flat every week. He was a bad play caller, has mismanaged clock and late game decisions, our QB is not progressing as he should and the overall scheme has not adapted to correct the failures. You can say personnel all you want, but this same o-line was top 5 in rushing yards down the stretch with Wilks. Maybe Miles Sanders is bad, but I think changing your run blocking scheme when it was already successful is to blame. I also understand our pass blocking has regressed, but at the same time we are almost at a 3:1 pass to run ratio. The point is, through 9 weeks of Reich’s tenure, we are one of the most penalized offenses, have not established an identity and are dead last in explosive plays. If you want to know why the offense doesn’t put up points, it’s because our scheme requires TD drives to be 15-20 plays. In the Bears game we had a 15 play, 50 yard drive that took off around 5 minutes. You have no room for error when you play such short passing football.

Step 3:

Allow Evero and staff to adjust for the remainder of the season and prove they have what it takes as a staff. Evero was interviewed as a HC and he is highly sought after. Our defense has been solid despite missing 7 week 1 starters. Imagine if the unit was 100% healthy. Thomas Brown may not be a seasoned play caller, but he’s cooking with spoiled goods (Reich Dinosaur Scheme).

Step 4:

Off season moves- Yikes, 9 weeks into the Reich Era and I am writing about the moves we will make in the off season.

Current Draft Picks: 33, 65, 101, 143, 163, 179

Current Cap Space: 40M

Pending Free Agents: Brian Burns, Frankie Luvu, Jeremy Chinn, CJ Henderson, Lavishka Shenault, Chark, Justin Houston, YGM and some more depth pieces

Signings:

Resign Burns 5 years 140M

Extend Derrick Brown 4 years 65M

Extend and Restructure Taylor Moton, current cap hit is 29M in 2024 and 27M in 2025.

Resign Luvu 3 years 28M

Let CJ, Chinn, Chark, YGM, Houston Walk

Resign Lavishka for cheap, (I like his potential as a deebo type player and he would be very cheap)

Go after Higgins, Ridley, Evans, Pittman. You have to sign one of these guys

Draft:

33. BPA, ideally some help inside at guard or a speedy wideout. A trade down to accumulate more picks is the ideal scenario.

34. A true NT

35. BPA, hopefully CB or more IOL help

36. BPA

37. BPA

38. BPA

Coaching Search:

If Evero has the goods retain him, if not throw a massive bag at Ben Johnson. Everyone keeps saying he refused to come here last year, He refused to interview everywhere because he did not feel like he finished his business in Detroit. I understand we may look like a worse situation now, but we have Bryce Young to build around. Our roster right now is depleted with talent, injuries, draft bust, and a massive dead cap hit from CMC and DJM. Next year we have cap space and still have 3 picks in the top 100. Our 2nd is going to be a late first.

Other openings (Raiders, Falcons) will most likely not have a QB in place yet. And say what you want about Bryce Young, he was a number 1 pick and it was not a shocker unlike the revisionists like to say on this reddit. Ben Johnson will get his chance to work with a young talent in Bryce Young and build something special in his home state.

Cornerstones: Bryce Young, Brian Burns, Derrick Brown, Jaycee Horn, Taylor Moton and Ikem Ekwonu

Also, there is no evidence that Tepper forced the pick of Bryce Young or made Fitt sign any of our free agency signings. Media, GMs, Players and Coaches all loved and continue to support Bryce Young. He has not been perfect, but I think it’s pretty obvious he is a part of a much bigger problem on this team.