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Breaking Down the Future of Head Coaches (Possibly) on theHot Seat

CarolinaLivin

By CarolinaLivin,
in Carolina Panthers

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CarolinaLivin

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MATT RHULE

OK, now that I’ve got that out of my system, let’s talk about Rhule, who was so impressive in his 2020 interview that the Panthers canceled a scheduled interview with Josh McDaniels so they could hire the former Baylor coach on the spot. During his time in the college ranks, Rhule built a reputation as a program-builder: He turned Temple from a bottom feeder into a perennial bowl team before cleaning up the mess that Art Briles left behind at Baylor, culminating in a Sugar Bowl appearance in 2020. That was enough to convince Panthers owner David Tepper to sign Rhule, whose lone postseason win as a head coach came in the illustrious Texas Bowl, to a seven-year deal worth $62 million. The hope was that he could build a long-term winner in Carolina.

But the Panthers haven’t done a lot of winning under Rhule, and there doesn’t seem to be a long-term plan in place. Rhule’s hiring was supposed to mark the beginning of a massive rebuild. One of his first major moves was to cut Cam Newton, which made sense for a team that was starting over. Newton was making a lot of money, and it had been a few seasons since he looked fully healthy. Yet then Carolina gave Teddy Bridgewater a $63 million deal to replace him. It traded young guard Trai Turner for overpriced veteran tackle Russell Okung, who had publicly contemplated retirement the previous season. Then it went out and signed Robby Anderson to a free-agent deal worth $20 million. These were not the moves of a rebuilding team.

Fast-forward to the 2021 season, and the Panthers still don’t seem particularly interested in a reset. They gave up draft capital in a midseason trade for the aging Stephon Gilmore, and then gave Newton $6 million guaranteed to play half a season after Sam Darnold was placed on IR with a shoulder injury. General manager Scott Fitterer characterized the Newton signing as a move that would help the team win now, but that’s not how things have worked out. After two consecutive losses with Newton as the starter, the Panthers are 5-7 with a mere 2.4 percent chance to make the playoffs, per Football Outsiders. Carolina’s chances of landing a top-five pick sit at 6.2 percent, leaving fans with little to root for over the coming month. Newton’s reunion tour might be the only reason to tune in.

It’s been nearly 23 months since the Panthers hired Rhule to rebuild the team, and said rebuild has yet to get started.

Should they keep him?

Carolina fired the wrong coach. While Brady was the scapegoat for Rhule’s ongoing failures, offensive play-calling hasn’t been the issue. The offensive failures fall squarely on Rhule and his handpicked general manager; after all, Brady did not pick the team’s quarterbacks, nor did he put together what might be the worst offensive line in the NFL. I’m not sure there’s a coordinator in the league who can field a productive offense with a leaky front line and a deeply flawed quarterback room.

Rhule cited the Panthers’ low run rates as a major point of contention, which should set off alarm bells for anyone who has read even one statistical study of the sport over the last, I don’t know, 20 years? Rhule says he wants the Panthers running 30 to 33 times a game, but that’s hard to do when the team is constantly playing from behind. When filtering out garbage time, Carolina hovered around league average in pass rate last season and is well below the league average this season.

If anything, Brady was calling too many runs. Throw in the Panthers’ conservative approach to fourth-down decision-making, and this should be a rather easy decision for an analytically inclined owner like Tepper.

 

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John2k2k Apprentice

John2k2k

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Joe Brady definitely was the problem. He was the one who didn't want to work with Cam Newton. He also was the one who chose Tiddy I'm a good QB but just don't count on me to be anything other than a game manager Bridgewater. To me it felt like Joe wasn't ready for an NFL OC job. Like I have seed Matt has his problems but I think  it had a lot to do with Joe and him just not jelling.

 

 

 

 

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