Analysis: Panthers moved on from GM. Don’t be surprised if Teddy Bridgewater is next
When it’s time to look back in the years to come, 2020 will be viewed as a perhaps the most significant year of transition in Panthers history.
It began in January with the hiring of head coach Matt Rhule to a seven-year contract worth upward of $60 million, and it will end with the firing Monday of general manager Marty Hurney. In between, new faces have joined the organization both on the field and off while the franchise endures a third season without a playoff appearance. Owner David Tepper has touched every level of the organization since he bought the team in 2018 except the general manager. Until this week.
This season was always going to be about building for the future. After a year of Hurney guiding the organization and teaching Rhule the NFL ropes, the franchise is continuing its shift to the vision Tepper has for how things should be run.
In March, the Panthers signed Teddy Bridgewater to a three-year, $63 million contract. But as the season progresses, and the failed game-winning or -tying drives continue to add up (currently at 0-8), it’s becoming more certain that transition will be a word that will also apply to Bridgewater’s time in Carolina.
“I think when you get to quarterbacks and NFL in general, you always want to try to figure out, do you have the best that’s in the position of this right now?” Tepper said when asked about his satisfaction with Bridgewater. “And that’s constant evaluation and reevaluation of that. And that’s what we’ll constantly go through.”
Hurney had the task of moving on from franchise quarterback Cam Newton, who has struggled in New England this year, and then signed Bridgewater to fit with an offensive coordinator in Joe Brady who has worked with him before and could build a scheme that suits him best. Without running back Christian McCaffrey for at least 11 games due to injury, Bridgewater has been unable to prove he can lead the offense when the opportunity presents itself on a consistent level.
When the team’s owner says the options include going with Bridgewater or one of his two backups in the future — P.J. Walker and Will Grier — or someone else, and that the team’s needs are very apparent and brings up the secondary and quarterback position, that’s typically a sign that the guy you want to build future around isn’t in the building.
“It’s an ongoing process and it’s a question of who can be that guy that can help you win. That’s the most important position on the field,” Tepper said. “Unless you have that guy for sure that gets you to playoffs and Super Bowls, you have to keep reevaluating that because that’s the only thing that matters is Super Bowls. And until you have that guy, you’re evaluating, evaluating, evaluating every year.”
The Panthers will bring in a new GM with plenty of big decisions to make. They currently sit in the top five of the draft, with two games to go against teams leading their divisions.
Not being committal to the clear starting quarterback 14 games into a season means something. Top-five picks are hard to come by and don’t happen often in the NFL. Carolina has only drafted that high twice — to select Kerry Collins fifth overall in 1995, Newton first in 2011 and Julius Peppers second in 2002. Franchise-altering selections.
Rhule and Tepper have preached patience about building this team and adhering to a process. Bringing in the next general manager will mean finding someone who aligns with their vision. It’s also giving control to someone new with many significant decisions to make from the 20-plus free agents to what to do with that draft pick.
Tepper learned from Hurney how things work in the NFL. Don’t be surprised if he now takes that information and creates a front office structure that differs from what other teams around the league are doing.
Rhule brought up the building process as part of his Monday night Zoom call, using the home project in his background that his wife, Julie, is working on as an analogy. It is a mess with dirt all around right now, but soon it will be “absolutely gorgeous.”
“That’s just my history has been close losses eventually become close wins, and you have to get better and better and better and this takes time there’s no shortcut to it,” Rhule said. “You don’t just come in and fix it quickly and cosmetic, you got to really go in there and build it and so, it stinks when you go through it, but when you get there on the other side it’s always been good to me and so I’m hopeful that we get to the other side as fast as possible.”
Rhule says he has confidence in Bridgewater, 28, but he also reiterated Monday that he has zero interest in being the general manager and having to be in charge of personnel. The person who will be part of making that final decision hasn’t been interviewed yet for the job.
Tepper showed he thinks the quarterback position will be evaluated in the offseason. Rhule hasn’t been shy about critiquing Bridgewater when necessary. Making the right selection with that No. 4 pick will be important, but being a Day 1 starter isn’t necessary.
The luxury of the contract Bridgewater signed was that he can stay around next year to help mentor a new quarterback, and then it is easy to move on in 2022. Which is what the Panthers should do.
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 7:19 PM with the headline "Analysis: Panthers moved on from GM. Don’t be surprised if Teddy Bridgewater is next."
