From Joe Person: Link
Some of Olsen's Panther related answers (edited)
You were around with Ron when the locals were starting to get restless. It seems like a different level of vitriol with Rhule. Why?
It does seem different now. Why? I don’t know. I don’t know Rhule as well as I know Ron. The one thing that always Ron had going for him was there was no locker-room leaks. There was no former free agent who goes to another team, coming out like Eli Apple, (who reportedly was told by Rhule he’d never play again after Panthers cut him). Ron didn’t have a lot of that. To this day, I don’t know if you’ve ever found one person who’s ever played for him or coached for him that has ever said anything bad about Ron. So what Ron always had going for him in the community, as a person, he was just such a good guy that he always got the benefit of the doubt. Now, I’m not suggesting that Rhule’s not. I just don’t know him as well, like I do Ron.
He also didn’t have the NFL credentials that Rivera had.
I think that’s also true. For whatever reason, right or wrong, people have a negative connotation of college coaches coming to the NFL. What Matt Rhule did to earn the job in his past days was really impressive. The time I spent with Matt before I got released, I came away really impressed with his message and with his vision and his approach. I still don’t think that just vanishes in thin air. I think expectations need to be set. They’ve gotta figure out the quarterback situation. That’s obviously been a big point of contention for fans. They moved on from Cam without a real plan and then they get Teddy (Bridgewater). They get rid of Teddy, they trade for Sam (Darnold). Sam gets off to a great start, gets hurt, he’s out. They bring Cam back. Then they don’t play either, then they play both. It’s impossible. People are saying: “We’re three years into this rebuild. If we want to be Cincinnati, we need to find a quarterback for the next 10 years.” And maybe that is Sam. I’ve always liked Sam. I like him as a guy. But more importantly, I think he has a lot of unique skills. He’s gotta be used the right way.
If it’s not Darnold, do you think Jimmy Garoppolo or Deshaun Watson makes sense versus getting someone in the draft?
I don’t. Year 3 of a rebuild, if I’m the GM — I feel really highly about (Scott) Fitterer, I think he’s really good. The problem with continuing to mortgage your future by giving away draft picks, if you’re gonna give away a draft pick, it’s gotta be a home run, no-brainer, and he’s our quarterback for the next decade. I like Jimmy Garoppolo. Are you gonna be able to give him the same support he had in San Francisco? Probably not. It’s not the same point of the program. You’ve got one pick in the top 100 — you’re gonna give it away? You’re gonna give away the sixth pick in the draft to get Garoppolo? Because if you’re not giving the first-round pick, you’re probably not getting him. You might. Do you even have the assets to pull of a trade like that, even if theoretically you wanted to? Just last year they traded (for) and took Sam’s fifth-year option, so Sam’s on the team unless you dump him for something. So how many quarterbacks you gonna pay? You’re paying like five quarterbacks. I think they’ve gotta go into this year trying to build the best team possible around Sam. If you have the opportunity to get a developmental quarterback in the draft, and he sits behind Sam and develops and he surprises you and he’s ready, great. I don’t know if I continue to mortgage my future and give draft picks away when I’m in a rebuild.
But would it be worth it for someone at the level of Watson, understanding he has serious legal issues?
Do the Panthers have the assets?
Future first-round picks, sure.
Is that gonna be enough? You’d have to give up multiple defensive starters. To get Deshaun Watson — legal issues aside, which is a huge factor in all this. If it wasn’t for that, he would’ve been traded already. But let’s say that goes away magically for the sake of this conversation. Would you take Deshaun Watson and lose Brian Burns and Jeremy Chinn and give up two first-round picks? I wouldn’t.
When he was in New York, Ben McAdoo threw to the tight ends a lot. Do you know him at all or his philosophy?
I don’t know him at all, but I’ve heard really good things. I do think getting some sort of tight end role in this offense is something that has been missing. Once they got rid of Dan Arnold, losing Dan and Christian (McCaffrey), I think that had an impact on Sam. It’s the best thing for a quarterback. I’m not just saying it because I played it. If you want to develop a young quarterback, if you want to get him comfortable, Christian McCaffrey goes a long way. DJ Moore goes a long way. And tight end production will go a really long way. You’ve got two of them. I still think Ian (Thomas) can do more than they let him. You’ve gotta protect the quarterback and you’ve gotta give him safe, easy throws to get things going and get him out of jams, and they haven’t really had that.
