Mr. Scot

I'd have figured Rhule's loyalists (i.e. the guys who followed him from Temple to Baylor to Carolina) would stick around, but with Jackson leaving who can say?

Person's latest article in The Athletic has some interesting insights, including the possibility that the staff exodus may not be over. Abandon Ship? Two assistants leave Matt Rhule's Panthers staff for lateral moves Excerpts follow... Owner David Tepper might have signed off on a third year for Rhule, but the rest of the league — and some of Rhule’s own staffers — aren’t banking on him getting a fourth. ... Because Jackson and Simmons made lateral moves, Rhule could have blocked them from leaving — as he did with tight ends coach Brian Angelichio, according to sources. Angelichio drew interest from other teams, but Rhule did not grant them permission to interview him. There are rumblings that other coaches also are exploring their options elsewhere. ... The replacements Rhule is bringing in also speak to the widely held view among NFL coaches and executives that Rhule is a lame duck. Of Rhule’s four hires, three were coaches who’d been on staffs that had been fired and the fourth is a 72-year-old coaching lifer who spent the past two seasons as a special assistant to former Florida coach Dan Mullen. ... Rhule is having a hard time convincing folks to join him, including Charlotte native Pep Hamilton, who turned down the chance to interview for Carolina’s offensive coordinator job and ended up staying in Houston in that same capacity. None of this is a good look for the Panthers, who have gone 10-23 since Tepper made Rhule one of the NFL’s highest-paid coaches with a seven-year, $62 million contract in January 2020. ... Rhule surrounded himself with a bunch of his former Temple and Baylor assistants when he arrived in Charlotte two years ago. His initial staff included only a handful of coaches with significant NFL experience and no one who had been a head coach. To his credit, Rhule has gone outside of his comfort zone with his hires — offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, special-teams coordinator Chris Tabor, offensive line coach James Campen and defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni. None has previously worked with Rhule. ... Between the 72-year-old Pasqualoni and Phil Snow, the Panthers’ 66-year-old defensive coordinator, the defensive staff room will have the look of an AARP potluck. But senior moments aren’t always a bad thing: Pasqualoni and Snow have forgotten more football than some coaches ever knew. ... McAdoo was in Green Bay with Campen, who was the longest-tenured assistant coach in Packers history after lasting for 15 seasons. Unfortunately for Campen, his subsequent jobs were all one-year stopovers when he joined doomed head coaches Freddie Kitchens (Cleveland), Anthony Lynn (L.A. Chargers) and David Culley (Houston). Campen probably shouldn’t mention that to any prospective job candidates who are considering joining Rhule, who’s having a hard enough time filling his staff.

I can. I'll post some excerpts.

Good one from Ellis...

Guys that might be available from staffs in transition... Bears Secondary Coach Deshea Townsend (former Steelers DB) Bears Assistant Secondary Coach Mike Adams (yeah, the guy that played for us a few years back) Giants Secondary Coach Jerome Henderson (one of the more experienced DB coaches; started with the Jets) Raiders Defensive Backs Coach Ron Milus (coached here under John Fox during his last two seasons)

Interestingly enough, the guy who was the secondary coach during Snow's last year in Detroit was most recently head coach at the University of Washington. He got fired last year for shoving a player on the sideline. So...he's available?

How old is Phil Snow again?

Meanwhile... So Buck was available.

Probably Evan Cooper. We have hired outside some this year though, so maybe there's hope for better than Rhule's right hand man.

Heh

Yeah, that's the nightmare scenario.

From what I know about Simmons, this one hurts. He was generally written about as being one of the Panthers better defensive coaches. And he had more real NFL experience than some others. Won't be surprised if Rhule just promotes corners coach Evan Cooper to cover the whole secondary. Cooper is one of Rhule's most trusted guys. I'd certainly hope for better though

I wasn't. Didn't really see much chance of that happening. The bolded part scares the hell out of me though

Oh geez

That's a lateral move. Rats...sinking ship?

I mean, if I were going for somebody in that age group, I'd probably have gone after Rod Marinelli. Pasqualoni could turn out to be the right guy though.

Actually, I'd say people changing their hearts has a lot more to do with progress in that area than changing laws. And of course, you can't really legislate people's opinions and ideas. Even the legislation of actions goes only so far (this thing called the Constitution tends to get in the way).

No connections to anybody on the current staff that I've seen. Thought they might look to somebody who previously worked with Snow but I guess not. Guess that'll make it easier to fire him next year if Rhule continues his usual pattern

I was just talking about DL coaches in the other thread Pasqualoni's a familiar name. Used to be a head coach at the college level if I remember correctly.

Also, speaking of the DL Coach, McAdoo actually worked with old Panthers DL coach / defensive coordinator Mike Trgovac in Green Bay. Trgo was last known to be working with the Raiders as a defensive consultant.

Didn't find a whole lot going back further on McAdoo. Other wide receiver and offensive coaches he's previously worked with mostly have jobs they're not likely to leave. That includes Cowboys receiver coach Adam Henry, Raiders receiver coach Edgar Bennett and Cardinals offensive consultant Jerry Sullivan. Mind you, Sullivan would be a great choice if he wanted to be a position coach again. He's got over 25 years of experience and a stellar reputation. There is one other receiver coach that worked under McAdoo who's also currently employed. That'd be former Giants receiver coach Sean Ryan (you may have heard of him). Course, if they were to move Ryan over to receivers coach, that would give us a chance to look at some pretty good QB coach options that are out there

McAdoo's year with the Jaguars put him in contact with two potential receiver coach options. The first is Terry Robiskie. Robiskie was actually the running backs coach for the Jaguars but he's got a lot of experience coaching receivers and being an OC. He's also a little bit up there in years (67). The other is a bit of an unpopular name in Carolina. Keenan McCardell was with the Jaguars in 2020 and with the Vikings in 2021 (unknown if he's being retained on the Vikings new staff). Panther fans hated him for a long time due to a dirty block that ended the career of kavika Pittman. There's also potentially Jay Gruden, although Gruden's never actually been a position coach.

Kinda surprised at that. Jackson's résumé isn't anything special. Not a whole lot of pro experience outside of a short stint with the Titans and, of course, his time with us. There are some good wide receiver coach options out there. I take a look at people connected with Ben McAdoo.

Yep. The only teams I know of besides us where the coach has final say are the Seahawks and, of course, the Patriots. Most teams have the GM over the coach. (wish we did)

I'd like to hope Tepper isn't that dumb. I can't say I'm confident of that fact