Athletic article on GM candidates

[Mr. Scot]

Returning to the actual topic, a quick summary...

Amid speculation that, having promoted John Lynch to "President of Football Operations", the 49ers could easily give Adam Peters the GM title where he'd continue to be in charge of personnel. Peters was declining interview opportunities with other teams last year, so his departing San Francisco seems highly unlikely.

Lions Assistant GM Ray Agnew has an obvious connection to Ben Johnson, but also is connected to current Panthers DC Ejiro Evero and OC Thomas Brown. A lot of people like the idea of a Johnson / Evero pairing. This could potentially make that easier.

Other potential candidates include Bears Assistant GM Ian Cunningham (who interviewed for the Assistant GM job here before Dan Morgan was hired) and Ravens Director of Player Personnel, Joe Hortiz (who I'd love to get).
 

[Mr. Scot]

10 minutes ago, PNW_PantherMan said:

Out of the list in the OP I would be most excited about Hortiz.  Don't know anything about him, but the Baltimore Ravens are one of the better run front offices in the league since they moved from Cleveland.  Hard no on the Bears.  Peters from the 49ers would probably be a good bet but it doesn't sound like he's leaving.

I'd love Hortiz.

My favorite candidates are Hortiz, Cowboys personnel chief Will McClay and Eagles / former Steelers personnel guy Brandon Hunt.

The idea of Ray Agnew is growing on me but that scenario might depend on getting Ben Johnson.

Edited January 2, 2024 by Mr. Scot

[jayboogieman]

37 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Fitterer being involved in the chicanery that helped get Frank Reich fired.

This is why he should be shown the door. The two guys(GM and HC) that would be the most important under him wouldn't be able to trust him. It's easiest and best to just clean house.

As for the topic at hand, any possible GM candidates don't matter until/unless Fitt gets fired.

[Mr. Scot]

6 minutes ago, jayboogieman said:

This is why he should be shown the door. The two guys(GM and HC) that would be the most important under him wouldn't be able to trust him. It's easiest and best to just clean house.

As for the topic at hand, any possible GM candidates don't matter until/unless Fitt gets fired.

That's been my take, despite certain people's suggestion that I'm just looking for a way to keep Scott Fitterer around

Casillas theory might work if the new GM and head coach are promised higher authority and independence, something which I honestly think needs to be promised regardless of what happens to Fitterer.

[Mr. Scot]

2 hours ago, Cavscout said:

Agnew is a good choice IMO but any new GM is likely to be just another Tepper "yes" man

Agnew would definitely be closely tied to Johnson.

And I think one of the conditions that will be needed for the next higher is what Jed York did in San Francisco, i.e. longer guaranteed contracts and promises of non-interference from the owner.

With everything that's happened, it's kind of hard to imagine Tepper getting a good candidate without those things.

[AggieLean]

No more Fitt, no more Dan Morgan. I understand it takes a few offseasons to clear out the scouting dept, but the task should be replacing them all. This front office needs a complete cleanse. If Fitt is just going to be re-assigned, and most of his duties remaining the same, then this conversation is pointless imo. This team just doesn’t get it.

 

As for a GM search; assuming all I’ve said above takes place, I’d love a deeper dive on Ian Cunningham. Poles is doing a decent job up there in Chicago, and he’s setting up the Bears to have quite the draft capital. 

[PNW_PantherMan]

2 minutes ago, AggieLean said:

As for a GM search; assuming all I’ve said above takes place, I’d love a deeper dive on Ian Cunningham. Poles is doing a decent job up there in Chicago, and he’s setting up the Bears to have quite the draft capital. 

The best thing the Bears have done is fleece us lol.  Other than that, its not impressive IMO.

[Mr. Scot]

One other minor note...

Ray Agnew and Panthers VP Adrian Wilson are both NC State grads, though from about a decade apart. Near as I can tell from a cursory look, it doesn't appear they ever crossed paths in the pros.

A pairing of Agnew as GM and Wilson as Assistant GM could certainly be interesting

[Mr. Scot]

2 hours ago, Captroop said:

This move would make a lot of sense. As I mentioned in my other post, I think he does a fine job working the phones. I trust him to take a sixth round pick, and somehow turn it into two 5th round picks.

But he just simply Can. Not. Evaluate. Talent. Remove the personnel management responsibilities, and I think he's a valuable executive to have in the organization.

That's the idea.

You'd have to resolve the trust issues stemming from what happened with Reich, though.

That's where I have a hard time seeing it.

[Mr. Scot]

1 hour ago, BlackPanther22 said:

They’re gonna give Bryce 2-3 years regardless. There isn’t gonna be an actual competition in camp lol, at least not in year two. Now if we get an actual good coach and good skill players and he still struggles in year 2, then year 3 is where you might get what you’re asking for. And honestly by that point, if we’re bad next year they’ll probably be in range to draft another QB anyways lol. 

You don’t have to love the way he’s been playing this year but yall gotta at least take the fan cap off when it comes to how they’re gonna handle the QB situation. I think he’ll end up being good in the next few seasons but they aren’t gonna give up on him after 1 year with the worst team in the league. 

I actually like the idea of having veteran competition for him next season, but I also agree that it might be unlikely.

Some have even suggested a draft pick like Michael Penix.

Edited January 2, 2024 by Mr. Scot

[CRA]

17 minutes ago, AggieLean said:

No more Fitt, no more Dan Morgan. I understand it takes a few offseasons to clear out the scouting dept, but the task should be replacing them all. This front office needs a complete cleanse. If Fitt is just going to be re-assigned, and most of his duties remaining the same, then this conversation is pointless imo. This team just doesn’t get it.

 

As for a GM search; assuming all I’ve said above takes place, I’d love a deeper dive on Ian Cunningham. Poles is doing a decent job up there in Chicago, and he’s setting up the Bears to have quite the draft capital. 

Yep, you can’t overhaul the entire scouting  department overnight. But you can gut and replace all the decision makers at the top.  I agree Morgan has to go with Fitt. 

[Mr. Scot]

1 hour ago, BlackPanther22 said:

I think he’d be smart to go out and hire like a Rick Spielman type as a President of Football Ops and let that person guide the GM search. Getting a good GM in here is damn near more important than getting the top HC candidate to me because this team has a talent and depth issue. We need somebody who can draft well in all rounds of the draft, not just round 1. That’ll sure up some depth issues. Whoever that person is that can do that, hire them. We have to start hitting on draft picks if we want to have a competitive and consistent roster. 

That's in a topic of discussion for a long time, with the obvious target being Kevin Colbert.

If we got Colbert, then I'd guess our next GM would be former Steelers Director of Pro Personnel / current Eagles personnel guy Brandon Hunt.

Hunt was the guy that Colbert was grooming to be his successor, but the Steelers chose Omar Khan instead. It's been suggested that was who Mike Tomlin wanted. Hunt left the Steelers for the Eagles shortly thereafter.

I know some will associate getting Colbert with trading for Tomlin, but word it is those two don't exactly have the greatest relationship. An internal power struggle between them is reported to have been one of the reasons why Colbert was only willing to sign single year extensions near the end of his time as Steelers GM.

[Mr. Scot]

2 hours ago, mav1234 said:

sounds like something tepper would do. going to assemble the allstar front office with a million cooks.

I wouldn't really look at it that way at all.

There would be some obvious changes though. We've got a few potentially duplicate titles where one guy could be let go. And of course, a new GM is going to want their own people.

That's where a non-interference guarantee from the owner comes into play.

[Mr. Scot]

1 hour ago, BlackPanther22 said:

One thing I do kind of want to push back on that I’ve not only seen on here but in other areas of the fanbase too, is this idea that Tepper is like Jerry Jones and is forcing Fitt and co. to pick certain players.

Im not pushing back on it in defense of Tepper but more so because I think it absolves Scott and his staff of any wrong doing which I don’t think is fair because we’ve seen them on video making these picks and explaining why they’ve made some of them. Outside of MAYBE Bryce Young (and that’s a big maybe because multiple insiders have said it was unanimous across the board) I cannot point to one pick Tepper forced Scott and his staff to make. 

This is on their shoulders and that’s why I need him and the rest of the scouting staff gone. 

In one of Scott Fowler's latest columns, he said he was told by a former Panthers staffer that anyone who disagrees with Tepper ultimately gets removed.

Don't know the background or the veracity of that, but you absolutely can't operate that way...especially not if you're bad at what you do.