Mr. Scot

They were...and by all accounts still are. From the article (quoted above) Morgan worked alongside Fitterer for eight seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, which coincided with the best stretch in that franchise’s history. After a three-year stint with Brandon Beane in Buffalo, Morgan returned to Charlotte as the assistant GM in 2021 four months after Fitterer was hired. The two bought homes in the same neighborhood, went on scouting trips together and were key decision-makers for an organization that went an NFL-worst 14-37 over the last three seasons. Similarly, if you go back to interviews with Morgan when he was first brought aboard, you'll see lots of talk about their relationship, including Morgan crediting Federer with teaching him how to evaluate players.

Adaptability is a big key to winning in the NFL.

Joe Person mentioned that if we do create a new position, it would be subject to the Rooney Rule so we couldn't necessarily just say "Okay, you didn't get that job but you're the man for this one." Unknown if that's true but it sounds correct...

Correct.

A model that fits in with the way Tepper likes to do business...which is kind of odd considering that he also apparently supported people trashing each other behind their backs

I've actually been wondering the same time.

Not GM or head coach news but of interest to this board... The "one team" is the Falcons because he doesn't want to leave Atlanta.

I don't knoooow. Can you repeat...theee...queeestion...

It is.

One thing that seems true on the coaching front: doesn't appear we're pursuing Slowik anymore. Also no word on Dan Quinn and others. It was reported that we never interviewed Brian Johnson and don't plan to. (no complaints about that)

Haven't seen it. I know you can't interview anyone but whether you can go ahead and request, can't say.

Slowik does now have second interviews with the Commanders and the Falcons, but not with us. Might be worth remembering that he spent six years in San Francisco working under John Lynch and Adam Peters.

It's only silent because nobody can talk to them this week.

No indication he's got a second interview anywhere else yet (including here). Slowik did spend six years working for the 49ers under John Lynch and Adam Peters.

In his latest for The Athletic, Joe Person analyzes the Morgan hire, calling it Morgan's "mission" to keep David Tepper out of football decisions and avoid winding up in the "Tepper Graveyard" of fired coaches and executives. The question then is whether or not that's a Mission: Impossible. Excerpts: There is some debate about whether Morgan finished with 25 tackles in the loss to the New England Patriots (which was based on coaches’ film) or 18 stops (as the box score noted). Either way, it was a whole hell of a lot. And yet it was nothing compared to what Morgan has to do in his newest role with the Panthers: Keep David Tepper out of the football decisions. ... That’s a mission others have failed to accomplish over Tepper’s six seasons as the Panthers’ owner, a tenure that has produced a graveyard of fired coaches and general managers. Ron Rivera. Marty Hurney. Matt Rhule. Frank Reich. Scott Fitterer. All were unable to convince Tepper to keep his hands out of the football cookie jar. ... Tepper said he planned to self-reflect as another season spiraled into oblivion. To that end, Tepper hired the Sportsology consulting firm headed by Mike Forde, a big name in the soccer world who was formerly an executive with Chelsea FC. So what does Tepper do? Goes through two weeks of interviews with general manager candidates from across the NFL, then hires a guy with an office down the hall. Morgan is a likable guy with nearly 15 years of personnel experience and strong ties to the organization. But he’s also inextricably linked to Fitterer, who joined Reich, Josh McCown and Duce Staley among the casualties from the Panthers’ 2-15 season. ... Morgan worked alongside Fitterer for eight seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, which coincided with the best stretch in that franchise’s history. After a three-year stint with Brandon Beane in Buffalo, Morgan returned to Charlotte as the assistant GM in 2021 four months after Fitterer was hired. The two bought homes in the same neighborhood, went on scouting trips together and were key decision-makers for an organization that went an NFL-worst 14-37 over the last three seasons. That kind of ugly record usually earns everyone a pink slip, not a promotion. But Tepper bonded with Morgan and is said to like the fact that Morgan played in the NFL before his career was cut short by injuries. ... In announcing Morgan as the president of football operations/general manager Monday, the Panthers referred to his hire as part of a front-office restructuring with Morgan taking over the “personnel operation.” The Athletic has reported Tepper hopes to pair Morgan with an executive with a salary cap and contracts background to serve as something of a buffer between ownership and football. A league source said Tepper is targeting Kansas City Chiefs vice president of football operations Brandt Tilis, who interviewed for the Panthers’ GM job three years ago before Fitterer was hired. But the Panthers can’t just name Tilis to a newly created role. The NFL’s Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least one minority and/or female candidate for senior-level positions. ... Given his history with Fitterer, Morgan certainly would have had a strong voice in personnel moves over the past three years. There were more misses than hits in that span, including a 2023 free-agency class that included busts Miles Sanders and DJ Chark and played a part in Fitterer’s undoing. But Tepper believes he found his guy without having to look far. “Dan has a thorough knowledge of our football personnel and a clear vision to take us where we all want to go,” Tepper said in a statement. “We know he will attack this opportunity with the same intensity he did as a Panthers player.” ... Al Wallace played with Morgan on the Panthers’ defense for five years. He was there for Super Bowl XXXVIII when Morgan set an unofficial record with all those tackles. Wallace believes his former teammate has the right temperament to handle Tepper, especially in a restructured front office. “For Dan to have that buffer, I think it’ll allow him to go in, speak his mind, give his opinions and assessments on the players and the direction of this football team without feeling the pressure of saying, ‘Well, I know who our owner likes. Should I appease him or should I stand strong in my conviction?’” said Wallace, the former defensive lineman and Charlotte sports media personality. ... “I think Dan’s personality is built for this. If there’s a guy that is in that room that’ll step up and say, ‘This is how we’re gonna do it. You hired me for a specific reason. Let me do my job,’ I’ve seen him do that,” Wallace added. “I’ve seen him do that as a player, and I can’t imagine with the maturity and the experience now that he won’t do it in this new role.” If not, the Tepper graveyard will claim another victim.

Ah, that's it.

Haven't seen that anywhere

Not that hyperbolic, honestly...

i.e. thoroughly full of sh-t

It's plausible

Could be. I know NFL rules don't put the same timing limitations on executives that they do coaches. Might be held back as a courtesy so as not to distract from the playoffs though.

Basically don't act like people did when Morgan came on here originally

Varies per team. Most are basically CEOs that run virtually everything. Some are purely personnel guys.