Mr. Scot

Not really... Kleiman overstated it

And now it's a Panthers.com story... Maybe it's a change I hadn't noticed, but I'm not used to stories about us negotiating with free agents being written for Panthers.com. Mind you, that doesn't necessarily mean we're signing him but it's different.

More from Fitterer via Panthers.com

You also got a very real sense that he wasn't exactly sad to see Matt Rhule go.

More from Reich via NFL.com...

And I'd call those statements accurate...

I definitely don't think there was enough said to get any kind of definitive ranking. One thing I do know are that when Reich was answering questions, he was effusive about two names in particular: One was Bryce Young, the other was Derek Carr.

I remember Matt Rhule's pressers. Man, is it different now.

When he was asked about Ejiro Evero, Reich said "I hired a man, not a scheme." It's the same here. He's not looking at a method, he's talking to a player.

Talked about Matt Corral getting limited reps last year

Panthers social media...

Fitterer said Tepper sat down with he and Morgan before the coaching search and said "I'm tired of this. What do we need to do to build a championship team?" That's good to hear.

Pretty sure Reich said that about Carr. For what it's worth, Reich sounded more positive about Carr than Fitterer but that's probably not a shock given their roles.

Highest rated category... A+ TIED FOR 1ST Players rated their training staff very highly and believe that they significantly add to their personal success.

Tuning in to WFNZ now to hear Fitterer talk to Kyle Bailey

Also, fire Marty Hurney

The full set of team grades can be seen here The Panthers report card is here What it says... CAROLINA PANTHERS REPORT CARD 12TH OF 32 TEAMS Overview The Carolina Panthers are ranked 12th among all NFL teams in our guide. Overall, players feel the facility is older than most, but is still functional. The most pressing issue players reported is upgrading the pool room, a key tool for player training and recovery. Players feel the floors in the pool room are unsafe and there have been complaints of a slippery surface with players falling regularly. The good news is that there has been recent investment into areas of the facility, like the locker room; and they recently hired Frank Reich, who was rated as one of the most player friendly and respected coaches in the league by the Colts last year. The players hope to continue to see more money being put into the necessary upgrades as 92% of respondents believed that David Tepper was willing to invest money into upgrading the facilities, ranking him 18th in the NFL in that category. Here's the breakdown by category... More details on these grades at the link...

Yep. Coaching matters. Sometimes it matters a lot. (when your previous coach was Urban Meyer or Matt Rhule, it's one of those times)

Side Note...

Make it six...

Mentioned this elsewhere, but I'll say it here as well... The impression I get is that this weekend is "crunch time" for the quarterback discussion, at least as it relates to Carr. They'll take the next several days to discuss what they want to do so that when when they speak to Carr on Monday, I expect they'll either make an offer or tell him they're going another direction. If I'm right, Monday or early next week's likely becomes "sh-t or get off the pot" time.