Mr. Scot

Well, here's one change... Nothing major, but Barthel is like the third or fourth guy Rhule brought with him who's bolted for somewhere else (besides promotional type opportunities).

That's not difficult to imagine.

That I'll grant. Tepper was the league's golden boy, though.

Yeah, I can't sign on to the idea of the NFL holding us down or anything. Sadly, we're just that damn bad

Oddly specific interpretation of a very generic tweet... That sort of thing rarely amounts to much. As to the question though, no. Wouldn't bother me at all.

There are several former Panther players working in local sports media. Lots of those guys are probably friends with Kunkel.

Something else that's kind of important to remember on this front... Even in traditional team power structures, roster building functions like this: the GM is the guy that shops for the groceries, but the head coach is the one who writes the recipe and prepares the meal. Head coaches and their assistants set the systems in which the players function. Then they tell the GM what kind of players they need to run those systems and the GM goes out and gets them. Prime Example: What did Matt Rhule want in offensive linemen? Versatility. He wanted a bunch of guys that could play any position rather than guys who were really good in one spot (basically jack of all trades, master of none). And that's what we went out and got. But the sad truth is, that's a lousy way to build an offensive line. It's a great profile for backups, but your starters should be built for the one position they play Still, it's what the head coach wanted. And no GM in the league is going to try and force the head coach to take players who don't fit his system unless they want a power struggle (not a wise thing to initiate when you don't have final say). So here we are...

Put Morgan in charge and your next head coach is likely Brian Daboll. Fitterer and Morgan are very close friends. In fact, Morgan credits Fitterer for a lot of his success. Hard to think he'd feel good about progressing at a close friend's expense. I'd add that it's kind of hard to say Fitterer "left Seattle in a shambles" when he was at most the third guy in charge behind head coach Pete Carroll. Also for the record, when he was hired away Caroll, Schneider and several others did actually express that they were sorry to see him go.

Josh Klein might have said it best...

Probably why Ed Dodds pulled out of the process. He saw where this was headed. One thing you have to remember about Fitterer though is that he spent the last several years employed by a team where that approach worked. Of course that team has a head coach with loads of NFL experience, not a college guy.

That's David Tepper's fault. Fitterer and Morgan both have something that Matt Rhule does not, and that's a several years long track record of success in the NFL. But Rhule is the one that Tepper gave final authority. Hell, he wanted to pair a newfangled analytics type GM (thankful that didn't happen). Tepper just seems like one of those guys who wants to do something differently just so he can say he's the smartest guy in the room...except he's not. And there's a reason why people have been doing things the way they have for so many years, because that way works. Best thing he could do for his team now is to stay out of that next big decision and leave it to people who actually have some experience in this sort of thing. Bottom Line: Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Stealth and misdirection...

Said it in another thread... If there is a head coaching search next year, please for the love of all that's holy don't let David Tepper be the one who runs it.

If he retires from the Steelers, Kevin Colbert would make sense.

Rhule says no staffing changes. Granted, Rhule says a lot of things

There's a lot of names out there, and it's hard to say who would be the best choice. But if there's one thing I feel absolutely comfortable saying about a potential head coaching search, it's this: Please don't let David Tepper be the one that runs it

Number one issue is coaching. If you don't fix that first, the rest is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Ya gotta figure that at the very least, he wouldn't have hired a college coaching staff.

Not me. I'm Scott Fowler

Meanwhile...

Yeah, he did. I'm not sure what part of this process looks "right". Also...

Rhule has stated that Newton is the starter.

I love the practice of hiring former head coaches as coordinators.

Sure, but given Rhule's history I'm not sure he'd agreed to it and that could lead to a parting of the ways. (which I'd be fine with)

There's going to be a lot of competition for however many jobs are open. And the league has been looking for Sean McVay types.