To steal, or not to Steel?

[Mr. Scot]

Ian Rapoport tweeted a possible option for someone Tepper could bring in shortly to the Panthers offices (likely on the business side). The guy in question? Not from the Steelers.

That brings to mind something Woodie mentioned yesterday.

While it's possible (and perhaps likely) Tepper may pull people from the Steelers organization down the road, it's also quite possible that the Steelers might have asked Tepper not to try and take anybody right now.

There'd be logic to it. It's an awkward time of year to lose someone. And while the Panthers certainly do have open positions, the organization is functional.

If this is so, then Tepper may have to look for people with no current employment. Mike Keenan, a former Browns exec who's apparently been doing some consulting, was the name Rapoport mentioned.

Other names that come to mind include former Browns GM Phil Savage. Savage recently resigned (unexpectedly, mind you) from running the Senior Bowl. Also, as Daniel Jeremiah suggested, there's "officially retired" longtime Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome (permission from the Ravens might be needed). I might take some time to look at other possibilities as well.

Given the transitional state of the team, it's possible anyone who comes aboard right now might be temporary and the real restructuring might not come till the offseason in 2019. But again, who knows?

Guess we shall see.

[Ace_Aladdin]

Hurn Dog & Rivera are the ones that matter if you want to win a SB. We don't need another Jerry Jones. 

 

[PantherBrew]

I expect a few small hires, but I bet he is just going to keep 2018 the way it is, and just look to 2019 for bigger changes

[Jon Snow]

I would be willing to bet that the Steelers indeed asked him to delay raiding their cupboard for a while at least.

[Toker Smurf]

I wish someone could give a good explanation of why this isn't a good time of year to make changes in the front office. The only two explanations I've heard are because, 'that's the way everyone does it' and 'there are more candidates after the season. Well, the candidates that are available after the season are mostly ones who were let go because they weren't good. I would think GM and VP of Football Ops types position's contracts are either a calendar year or league year and if its league year then that is in March, not good. Why would you want to give your GM less time to prepare for potential free agents and the draft. In our case, I get if he wants to wait to evaluate Hurney (though he already has years to evaluate him on).  As far as wanting continuity for the sake of continuity, I mean I get the coaching staff but not a GM who was supposed to be temporary anyway. Odds are he'll want to make a change to 'his' guy at some point, why not now. Hurney was available for years and no one wanted him, now he's too good to replace?

[Mr. Scot]

4 minutes ago, PantherBrew said:

I expect a few small hires, but I bet he is just going to keep 2018 the way it is, and just look to 2019 for bigger changes

Reasonable.

[joemac]

If Tepper can somehow replace Hurney with Ozzie Newsome I will personally finance and install his statue in the spot of Jerry's.

[Moo Daeng]

Ozzie Newsome isn't retried until after this season.

[Mr. Scot]

9 minutes ago, Toker Smurf said:

I wish someone could give a good explanation of why this isn't a good time of year to make changes in the front office. The only two explanations I've heard are because, 'that's the way everyone does it' and 'there are more candidates after the season. Well, the candidates that are available after the season are mostly ones who were let go because they weren't good. I would think GM and VP of Football Ops types position's contracts are either a calendar year or league year and if its league year then that is in March, not good. Why would you want to give your GM less time to prepare for potential free agents and the draft. In our case, I get if he wants to wait to evaluate Hurney (though he already has years to evaluate him on).  As far as wanting continuity for the sake of continuity, I mean I get the coaching staff but not a GM who was supposed to be temporary anyway. Odds are he'll want to make a change to 'his' guy at some point, why not now. Hurney was available for years and no one wanted him, now he's too good to replace?

It's more about the team that's losing a guy than it is us.

Those kinds of changes tend to happen in the early months of the year. As you get closer to training camp and the start of the season, team and business operations are in full swing. That's a difficult time to have to replace someone.

[Toker Smurf]

5 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

It's more about the team that's losing a guy than it is us.

Those kinds of changes tend to happen in the early months of the year. As you get closer to training camp and the start of the season, team and business operations are in full swing. That's a difficult time to have to replace someone.

So, what you are saying is we should steal a couple of the best guys from our division rivals.

 

I mean seriously, when I hire somebody, I'm not too concerned about what it's going to do to their current employer.

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, Toker Smurf said:

So, what you are saying is we should steal a couple of the best guys from our division rivals.

To take someone currently employed by another team, you probably have to offer a promotion. Even then, the other team might be able to block it.

End of the season generally means expired contracts. Even if it doesn't, you can often do it as long as you're offering a promotion.