Mr. Scot

I think lower level trades like that are probably more likely than high profile ones. But again, it's uncertain whether or not the Panthers are looking to trade at all.

If you'd have asked me previously, I probably would have said that's all he was doing. But the reports that he might be doing more than that are starting to get louder and more frequent. I do kind of wonder if the team or Tepper himself will respond to this in any way. My guess is they won't but it'll be interesting if they do.

From NFL.com... Notable players who could or should be traded before the deadline Burns is mentioned along with Chinn (which I can understand) and Frankie Luvu (which would shock me) as players The Panthers could potentially trade away. Other team options I find interesting: Danielle Hunter Realistically, about the only way this likely happens is a straight up swap with Brian Burns. That deal only makes sense though if you think Hunter can be had for a more reasonable contract than Burns. He's arguably better, but also older, so it's debatable whether this makes sense. As far as pass rushers, Frank Clark is also mentioned as a candidate to be shipped out of Denver, but I'm not that interested in him. Carl Lawson and Chase Young are named as possibilities also. Garrett Bolles If you're one of the people who believes that Ickey Ekwonu would function better at guard, then getting a solid pass blocking left tackle makes sense. It's also pretty clear Bolles wants out of Denver, but the question there would be what they'd want in return. For the record, I'm not of the mind that Ekwonu needs to be moved to guard, but If the team insists on sticking with their current blocking scheme, It might become something to think about. Wide Receivers Several names are mentioned here including Cortland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, Mecole Hardman, Hunter Renfrow, Marquise Brown, Darnell Mooney, Kendrick Bourne and Juju Smith-Schuster. Most believe the Panthers are looking for a number one type deep threat, but I'd suggest someone with speed and reliable hands doesn't necessarily need to be a deep threat if they can catch short passes and tile up RAC yards like a typical WCO receiver would. There is also one tight end listed, Hunter Henry. Don't know that the Panthers are in the market for someone like that but I include his name here because it's at least possible. _________________________ One final note: I know general speculation has been that the Panthers are in the trade market for at least a receiver, but I've also seen that report disputed by reliable sources. I know Dan Morgan had mentioned a while back that the team isn't really looking to trade away draft picks right now. Has that changed? Unknown.

Possible, but not as believable given that Fitterer by nature is a consensus builder rather than a "run over everybody until they see it my way" type like Matt Rhule. I keep going back to David Tepper's reaction at their dinner with Bryce Young, when he raved about how young broke down a particular play Reich asked him about. I remember e asked "who does that? Who goes into that much detail?" Both Reich and Fitterer would likely have been able to site examples of having seen that before, but Tepper acted like it was something that had never been seen. If there was a single moment that sold Tepper on Young, I think that was it. I also vaguely remember reading that the S2 thing was a big deal to Tepper.

I don't think there's any credible suggestion that Reich was absolutely opposed to Young. It does, however, seem possible that Reich might have preferred Stroud. And if he changed his pick in any part because of owner influence, that's a very bad thing.

I don't think anyone can guarantee that he will. The one encouraging thing I can say is that he has at least seen and been able to admit when he's made mistakes. Whether they're responses he makes to those mistakes might or might not also be a mistakes is another story.

That and people leaving...

"Happy with the pick" isn't the same as "preferred choice".

Gotta take it in context with the other reports to put it all together. Breer explains that it worked for Kraft because he "figured it out", i.e. learned how to push for results while also keeping his hands off the actual operation. His take is that Tepper hasn't figured that out yet.

I have a hard time imagining Tupper working with Jim Harbaugh. I'm also not as big a believer in Harbaugh as some others. The thing about Colbert though is that he's someone who's already friends with Tepper, and someone who Tepper is known to trust. Given his ego, I think Colbert is the only realistic shot you've got at getting someone who can overrule Tepper. Whether or not Colbert would do it? Unknown.

Influence vs direct orders, but the results are the same...

He won them at a time when there was no salary cap and he could just overpay for the best players. Also on the heels of the Herschel Walker trade which was engineered by Jimmy Johnson, not Jones.

Also, here's more from Greer on Dan Patrick's show...

Hire a guy like Kevin Colbert (preferably Colbert himself) to run the football operation, let that guy assess the organization from top to bottom and do whatever he recommends. Make no changes whatsoever until you have that guy in place.

Key passage: ...it sounds like what I’ve heard from others who’ve worked for Tepper—he’s taken his approach to running a hedge fund into the NFL world, in keeping his thumb on those who work for him and keeping heat on everyone to perform. And Reich is correct to say there are a lot of owners who don’t operate like that (a bunch don’t even live in the cities their teams play in and aren’t around the office much). I think it was Charles Robinson who previously said there were a lot of reports that Tepper was considered around the league as a difficult person to work for. Stories like this don't exactly help that reputation.

Albert Breer shared some insight into the current situation (posted elsewhere).

From Breer's latest mailbag... From JP (@Lilpopester): Do you think [Lions offensive coordinator] Ben Johnson pulled out because he knew Carolina would offer him, and he saw how controlling [David] Tepper is? No chance Scott [Fitterer] and Frank [Reich] both make it to next season. From Jason Green (@HeelofaPanther): You sure Frank keeps his job if the Panthers finish with two wins or less? JP and Jason, I’m taking both of you at once, because I wouldn’t have even considered that Frank Reich would be in jeopardy after a single year until I saw what he said Monday about where his relationship is with Carolina owner David Tepper. Take a look. “He wants to bring a winner to the Carolinas,” Reich said from the podium. “He wants it now. He pushes me, and pushes us, to that end. He wants to do whatever it takes, turn over every stone, churn it as much as he has to to produce winning football. So I appreciate those conversations. They’re always very challenging. He’s a super-competitive person. He’s not going to sit idly by. … “There’s different philosophies in ownership. Some owners kind of stay away and don’t engage a whole lot. Other owners do. And his philosophy is he’s gonna engage. And, listen, it’s only been a short experience, but it’s been a really good experience. It hasn’t been fun. It’s not fun. Those meetings aren’t—I wouldn’t characterize them as fun meetings. But those meetings make me better, and I trust they make us better.” First of all, I appreciate the honesty from Reich and a window into the unique partnerships owners have with their coaches. Second, it sounds like what I’ve heard from others who’ve worked for Tepper—he’s taken his approach to running a hedge fund into the NFL world, in keeping his thumb on those who work for him and keeping heat on everyone to perform. And Reich is correct to say there are a lot of owners who don’t operate like that (a bunch don’t even live in the cities their teams play in and aren’t around the office much). I generally think this is a good thing. I’ve long thought it was a strength of Patriots owner Robert Kraft that he didn’t abandon his business principles (a lot of owners do) in how he runs his football operation. It took six years for Kraft to home in on that and get it right, and a lot of other successful owners have to go through that process, too, a process that Tepper is in the midst of right now. Could Reich be collateral damage to Tepper figuring it out? I don’t think so, yet. But the fact that the coach is vocal about it means, to me, the situation down there, with an 0–5 team, is at least worth paying attention to. And by the way, no, Ben Johnson didn’t pull his name out of the Panthers’ search because he was leery of Tepper or GM Scott Fitterer. The timing simply wasn’t quite right, and Johnson had a really good situation in Detroit. Link: What we're hearing on NFL coaching changes in trade deadline targets

Nicole had a similar rapport with Stroud. He even referred to her as "Mama Tepp". I don't really buy into the idea that Nicole has any major influence on the team. To be honest, it isn't necessary. Her husband having influence is enough.

I'm not the sort of person who likes conspiracy theories, but there is a possibility there when you factor in narcissistic personality types. Jerry Jones interpreted the lack of success under Bill Parcells as evidence that his hands-on approach was just as good as allowing a football guy to run things. Likewise, it's not hard to imagine David Tepper seeing the mess that was made under Rhule as evidence that he needed to be more involved in the day-to-day operation rather than less involved. That's easily consistent with how Type-A personality people think.

Let's be clear on one thing though... Even if all of this turns out to be true, none of it means that Young is a bust. It's still way too early to say that, and there are still reasons to believe Young can become the franchise quarterback he was envisioned to be. The practical upshot of all this is not that Young is bad. Rather it's the Tepper is bad and needs to take his hands completely off the operation. But of course, we already knew that 🫥

There had been reports that Tepper liked Young. There had been reports that Reich liked Stroud. But up to now, there had not been any credible reports that Tepper actually influenced the decision. Such reports, however, have started to emerge. One thing you have to be clear on is that it's not necessarily being said that Tepper made the decision, just that he influenced it. There's a subtle difference between those things. Unfortunately though, the result is the same. What these stories have me thinking back to is Tepper's discussion of the dinner with Young. He raved about Young being able to break down a play that Reich brought up. If there's a moment we can point to where the decision was made in his mind, that may well be it. And if, after that moment, he did indeed exert undue influence...yeah, that's not good.

This year wasn't one of those years for anybody but Will Levis.

Not suggesting this as a preferred alternative, but it crossed my mind so I'm curious to people's thoughts... What if the suggested offer involved a first, an additional mid-round pick and Jahmyr Gibbs rather than Williams?

There's a lot of "what if" in this scenario. Granted, that's kind of the nature of the topic, but still...

Highly doubt you'd have gotten Stroud at third overall. Young and Stroud we're always going to go 1 and 2. It was just a matter of who they went to. Richardson's already on IR.