Joe Person: The Tepper Graveyard

[Mr. Scot]

In his latest for The Athletic, Joe Person analyzes the Morgan hire, calling it Morgan's "mission" to keep David Tepper out of football decisions and avoid winding up in the "Tepper Graveyard" of fired coaches and executives.

The question then is whether or not that's a Mission: Impossible.

Excerpts:

There is some debate about whether Morgan finished with 25 tackles in the loss to the New England Patriots (which was based on coaches’ film) or 18 stops (as the box score noted).

Either way, it was a whole hell of a lot. And yet it was nothing compared to what Morgan has to do in his newest role with the Panthers: Keep David Tepper out of the football decisions.

...

That’s a mission others have failed to accomplish over Tepper’s six seasons as the Panthers’ owner, a tenure that has produced a graveyard of fired coaches and general managers. Ron Rivera. Marty Hurney. Matt Rhule. Frank Reich. Scott Fitterer.

All were unable to convince Tepper to keep his hands out of the football cookie jar. 

...

Tepper said he planned to self-reflect as another season spiraled into oblivion. To that end, Tepper hired the Sportsology consulting firm headed by Mike Forde, a big name in the soccer world who was formerly an executive with Chelsea FC.

So what does Tepper do? Goes through two weeks of interviews with general manager candidates from across the NFL, then hires a guy with an office down the hall.

Morgan is a likable guy with nearly 15 years of personnel experience and strong ties to the organization. But he’s also inextricably linked to Fitterer, who joined Reich, Josh McCown and Duce Staley among the casualties from the Panthers’ 2-15 season.

...

Morgan worked alongside Fitterer for eight seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, which coincided with the best stretch in that franchise’s history. After a three-year stint with Brandon Beane in Buffalo, Morgan returned to Charlotte as the assistant GM in 2021 four months after Fitterer was hired. The two bought homes in the same neighborhood, went on scouting trips together and were key decision-makers for an organization that went an NFL-worst 14-37 over the last three seasons.

That kind of ugly record usually earns everyone a pink slip, not a promotion.

But Tepper bonded with Morgan and is said to like the fact that Morgan played in the NFL before his career was cut short by injuries. 

...

In announcing Morgan as the president of football operations/general manager Monday, the Panthers referred to his hire as part of a front-office restructuring with Morgan taking over the “personnel operation.”

The Athletic has reported Tepper hopes to pair Morgan with an executive with a salary cap and contracts background to serve as something of a buffer between ownership and football. A league source said Tepper is targeting Kansas City Chiefs vice president of football operations Brandt Tilis, who interviewed for the Panthers’ GM job three years ago before Fitterer was hired.

But the Panthers can’t just name Tilis to a newly created role. The NFL’s Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least one minority and/or female candidate for senior-level positions.

...

Given his history with Fitterer, Morgan certainly would have had a strong voice in personnel moves over the past three years. There were more misses than hits in that span, including a 2023 free-agency class that included busts Miles Sanders and DJ Chark and played a part in Fitterer’s undoing.

But Tepper believes he found his guy without having to look far.

“Dan has a thorough knowledge of our football personnel and a clear vision to take us where we all want to go,” Tepper said in a statement. “We know he will attack this opportunity with the same intensity he did as a Panthers player.”

...

Al Wallace played with Morgan on the Panthers’ defense for five years. He was there for Super Bowl XXXVIII when Morgan set an unofficial record with all those tackles. Wallace believes his former teammate has the right temperament to handle Tepper, especially in a restructured front office.

“For Dan to have that buffer, I think it’ll allow him to go in, speak his mind, give his opinions and assessments on the players and the direction of this football team without feeling the pressure of saying, ‘Well, I know who our owner likes. Should I appease him or should I stand strong in my conviction?’” said Wallace, the former defensive lineman and Charlotte sports media personality.

...

“I think Dan’s personality is built for this. If there’s a guy that is in that room that’ll step up and say, ‘This is how we’re gonna do it. You hired me for a specific reason. Let me do my job,’ I’ve seen him do that,” Wallace added. “I’ve seen him do that as a player, and I can’t imagine with the maturity and the experience now that he won’t do it in this new role.”

If not, the Tepper graveyard will claim another victim.

[Bear Hands]

Person has slowly been getting better over the years.  Decent piece with some perspective.

I'm going to be cautious given he was part of the bad, but I do think there's reasons to be hopeful with a restructure taking place, and hopefully Dan getting some new people in with him on the personnel side of things.  

Wonder if Adrian Wilson is staying.  

 

[CRA]

12 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

But Tepper bonded with Morgan and is said to like the fact that Morgan played in the NFL before his career was cut short by injuries. 

Given his history with Fitterer, Morgan certainly would have had a strong voice in personnel moves over the past three years. There were more misses than hits in that span, including a 2023 free-agency class that included busts Miles Sanders and DJ Chark and played a part in Fitterer’s undoing.

 

basically the repeated pattern.  Tepper just liking guys.  Maybe Dan Morgan got behind the counter at the pizza joint and Tepper appreciated that being a former short order cook. 

I mean, there frankly is no reason given how bad this front office was for Morgan to get a promotion right now.   The only argument would be if Dan went around yelling about how everyone was wrong and stupid the last several years.  But he would have been weeded out per reports a long time ago if he wasn't part of this nightmare consensus team.   

[Waldo]

Lol he is a dead man walking. I had no idea Dan was that delusional. How does a restructure work when Tepper allows employees to skip over their bosses with direct access to him? Dan's body of work is also garbage over the last 3 years, last year being the worst.

[Shocker]

David Tepper has fans hoping he dies.  Not me but I have seen it out there

Edited January 23 by Shocker

[CRA]

2 minutes ago, Waldo said:

Lol he is a dead man walking. I had no idea Dan was that delusional. How does a restructure work when Tepper allows employees to skip over their bosses with direct access to him? Dan's body of work is also garbage over the last 3 years, last year being the worst.

Jim Caldwell probably recommended Dan Morgan.  He was on the search team lol.  No way this is the formula to fix the Panthers.  It's the leftovers from the mess.  

look like other NFL teams aren't the only ones ripping off Tepper.  The search firm got a check for Dave just to do whatever he wanted. 

[Khaki Lackey]

I don't see how a guy that lobbied for the job that his BFF just got sh!t-canned from is going to fix the toxic "hunger games" culture in the organization.

[Johnstonny]

6 minutes ago, CRA said:

Jim Caldwell probably recommended Dan Morgan.  He was on the search team lol.  No way this is the formula to fix the Panthers.  It's the leftovers from the mess.  

look like other NFL teams aren't the only ones ripping off Tepper.  The search firm got a check for Dave just to do whatever he wanted. 

....To be honest, I think the org is so toxic nobody else wanted the job...dipper prolly didn't have much of a choice.

[Waldo]

7 minutes ago, CRA said:

Jim Caldwell probably recommended Dan Morgan.  He was on the search team lol.  No way this is the formula to fix the Panthers.  It's the leftovers from the mess.  

look like other NFL teams aren't the only ones ripping off Tepper.  The search firm got a check for Dave just to do whatever he wanted. 

I know right. The mastermind is Jim Caldwell who happens to keep his consulting gig after last year's performance. Sportsorgy is about to get a permanent exit from the NFL after this one. It's all a bad joke and the cope is on again already.

[CRA]

Just now, Johnstonny said:

....To be honest, I think the org is so toxic nobody else wanted the job...dipper prolly didn't have much of a choice.

I mean, Jim Caldwell/Dave/Nicole being 3/4 of the hiring team is a red flag in itself.  First internal question I would have is how the fug is Jim Caldwell still here and why is he involved in this.  I mean, if you have followed the Panthers and what has been reported......I would pull my name out and stay where I was at another cycle.   And they are dicing the GM job up.  Not that it is an issue in the big picture but it is red flag for Carolina to do it if you are a new hire. 

[Waldo]

3 minutes ago, Johnstonny said:

....To be honest, I think the org is so toxic nobody else wanted the job...dipper prolly didn't have much of a choice.

No one good. There is always a line of bad to take easy cash.

[CRA]

7 minutes ago, Waldo said:

I know right. The mastermind is Jim Caldwell who happens to keep his consulting gig after last year's performance. Sportsorgy is about to get a permanent exit from the NFL after this one. It's all a bad joke and the cope is on again already.

I love how some claimed Caldwell and Frank were BFFs and Morgan and Fitterer were BFFs.  Then the Game of Thrones reporting came out.  Now you got Caldwell helping Morgan get hired out of the rubble.  It has stunk in Carolina for some time.  We needed a clean slate.  Looks to me it's just more of the same. 

at least trainwrecks are entertaining.  That's all we got.  

[rayzor]

i really hope that tepper has been hearing and listening to all of the noise around the league about how his particular management model is seen as a problem and primary reason for his constant failings so far and that he makes a change.

let dan do his job and realize that your job isn't his job. same with the coaching staff.

[BIGH2001]

5 minutes ago, Waldo said:

I know right. The mastermind is Jim Caldwell who happens to keep his consulting gig after last year's performance. Sportsorgy is about to get a permanent exit from the NFL after this one. It's all a bad joke and the cope is on again already.

Sportsology couldn’t have possibly recommended Morgan if they were actually doing what they were paid to do. Hiring them was a poorly veiled PR move by an owner who s the de facto GM and plans to keep it that way.