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At the direction of liberal billionaire David Tepper, the Carolina Panthers mortgaged the future of the franchise last spring to take quarterback Bryce Young with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft.
How’d that gamble pay off? Well, Young is currently sitting on the bench in Charlotte – having posted a 2-16 record as a starter. In his place, journeyman veteran Andy Dalton has posted a 1-3 mark. Meanwhile, the king’s ransom Tepper dealt to Chicago for the right to draft Young has been nothing short of a boon for Da Bears – positioning the franchise way ahead of schedule on its rebuilding project.
In addition to playmaking wide receiver DJ Moore, Chicago landed two starters – offensive tackle Darnell Wright and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson – with the 2023 draft picks it got from Carolina. Most importantly, the Bears got quarterback Caleb Williams – a vastly superior prospect to Young – with this year’s top pick.
Chicago also gets Carolina’s second-round pick in next year’s draft… meaning the damage is not done.
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What has Carolina been doing in the meantime? Trying to put the pieces together as it embarks on yet another rebuild.
With a new general manager and new head coach, the Panthers spent big coming into 2024 – bringing in tons of new players to shore up their offense in the hopes of giving Young the weapons (and protection) he needed to succeed.
Clearly, the experiment failed… and now the Panthers are (once again) a franchise in free fall. Carolina ranks an anemic No. 25 (out of 32 teams) in total offense with 298.5 yards per game and is even worse when it comes to scoring, ranking No. 28 in the league with just 17.2 points per game.
Under Tepper’s “leadership,” the Panthers have posted an abysmal 32-73 (.304) record – worst in the NFL since 2018 – failing to reach the playoffs or secure a winning season since he bought the team. Conversely, in the five years before Tepper purchased the Panthers, the franchise went 54-31-1 (.621) – reaching the playoffs four times and making it to Super Bowl 50.
That is a definitional sustained collapse, people.
Tepper has fired three coaches, run off the best player in the league (Christian McCaffrey), alienated half of his team’s fan base and repeatedly shown his ass. Oh, and his teams just keep losing.
The only good news to befall the Panthers of late? Tepper and his representatives won’t face criminal charges for a botched crony capitalist deal what was supposed to relocate Carolina’s practice facility and corporate headquarters to Rock Hill, S.C. Tons of taxpayer cash was laid out for this project – and the facility was half-erected – but then Tepper bailed. He also pulled the team’s current practice facility from Spartanburg, S.C. and moved it to Charlotte.
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While many view Tepper’s treatment of South Carolina as indefensible, the real “indefensibility” in all this is… Carolina’s defense. As bad as the Bryce Young/Andy Dalton show has been on offense, no team in the NFL has struggled as mightily on the defensive side of the ball as the Panthers.
That’s especially frustrating for longtime Panther fans, who recall its dominating defenses consistently putting the franchise in playoff contention prior to Tepper’s arrival.
Through six games this year, Carolina is giving up 379.8 yards per game – ranking No. 29 out of 32 franchises. The Panthers are surrendering 153.5 yards per game on the ground (30th in the NFL) and 226.3 yards per game through the air (23rd in the league) – meaning they are doing everything poorly. Oh, and on the statistic that matters most – scoring defense – Carolina ranks dead last in the league, giving up 33.8 points per game.
For those unfamiliar with the term “any given Sunday,” change is a constant in the NFL. Things shift – often on a dime. Momentum is a fickle mistress, and the same fates frowning on Tepper’s troops today could decide to smile on them tomorrow. In other words, you never know how a season is going to end up… and Carolina has eleven games left on its schedule to try and right the ship.
For now, though, the free fall continues… and every button Tepper pushes is pushing the franchise further away from contention.
BANNER VIA: PANTHERS/X
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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4 comments
I’d like to start a petition to force the Panthers to change their name from “Carolina Panthers” to “Charlotte Panthers”. They’re as embarrassing and functional as the “Corridor of Shame” and we already have that.
On second thought, maybe they could change their names to “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda”? “Tepper’s Folly”? How about we go with a throwback name that seems appropriate again; “Meow Mix Massacres”?
Just demote them to SEC and call it a day.
I guess Tepper is going to have more tantrums and throw drinks on fans out the window of his private box. What a idiot he is. Who will be the next coach?
Shitty Kitties?