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Dan Morgan Coverage

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Carolina Panthers leadership

All right, Lewis for the second time in a year. The Carolina Panthers have a brand new head coach almost to the day, almost to the day. And this time it is Dave Canalis. He's the new head coach of the Carolina Panthers. We were here for the introductory press conference, him and also the new general manager and Dan Morgan. Uh, first off as you're here, you were here with me. What are your initial, I guess reactions to what you saw in the press conference with both guys? Well, we said it on the drive. I pretty sure that, uh, Dave Canal is gonna win the press conference. He's just a charismatic guy. That's what these press conferences are all about. Getting a chance to showcase your person, showcase your personality, put your message, put your culture out there. So, um, you get that, you get a lot of energy, uh, 42 years young, he's, uh, one of the younger coaches in the NFL and one year of, uh, experience. I mean, a play caller in the NFL as an offensive coordinator. Um, so you pick up on that youth, you pick up on that energy that exuberance. Um Now the question is how does that translate to what they do as a team? The Caroline Panthers there? He's definitely a lot different than Frank Reich, who is a little bit more laid back, a little bit more subdued, sometimes, felt sleepy at times when, when you think about that and maybe what that could do for a football team. What are your thoughts on that? I mean, some of it's just about, you know, leadership being a leader of men and all that kind of stuff. And I, I think especially when you're talking with, um you know, younger players and things like that, you, you need a little bit more of that energy. He, he's definitely got that for sure. Um uh When I looked at what he does in general, right, as an offensive coordinator, only one year as a play caller. So the sample size is pretty small, but we saw a lot of explosive plays, maybe going on with that his personality a little bit. Um And, and what, what you saw was a lot of passes deep down field, they were second in the NFL in yards and uh passes that were thrown 20 or more yards down scrimmage completed. That is Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So, um and they work a lot with really good wide receivers, uh you know, Mike Evans, uh Chris Godwin in Tampa Bay and then you go back to his days in Seattle even most recently Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf. Um So I, I think hopefully what I think Panthers fans are hoping to see is a transition to, uh a lot more exciting explosive offense. Some of that's gonna have to deal with who was brought in as players and that's gonna be on new general manager Dan Morgan who of course, has been a part of the team for the last three years. One of the things I thought was very interesting, he looked at some of the former players, Jonathan Stewart, Mike Tolbert, uh Thomas Davis Muhsin Muhammad among some others and said we need to get back to that while also having current players over to his right saying, hey, we need fire, we need passion, we need guys to step up to the level. We need to make sure that when people roll up to 800 South Mint Street and they see this logo here that they fear the logo, this logo isn't feared anymore. What were your takeaways on, on that? And did you feel like he was kind of calling out the current players in a way? I think it's more of trying to establish that culture right? Immediately you come off and you know what you're expecting when you look at the history of the Carolina Panthers, right? You think of a lot of that kind of hard nosed, tough defenses, whether it be uh you know, on the run to the Super Bowl with Jake Glom and all them or whether it be, you know, most recently with Ron Vera Cam Newton, you know, Thomas Davis Luke Kuechly, all of them in the, the 2015 Super Bowl run. So, you know, I, I think that there's a lot that the, the Panthers need to do. And one of the big things whenever you bring in a new coaching staff is establishing that culture, getting a belief building that from the inside out. One of the words that we heard, uh, throughout this press conference was alignment. And that's one thing that the Carolina Panthers didn't seem like they had before. We heard reports of coaches going behind each other's back. Uh, we heard that there were some fractures within that and then some folks who probably just didn't get along with David Tepper himself. Uh, when you look at the situation where they got the GM beforehand, then got the head coach because that didn't happen for Scott Fitterer. He never got a chance to pick Matt rule and it wasn't his choice for Frank Reich. That was David Tepper's choice. Dan Morgan worked with Dave Canalis in, in Seattle. They've known each other and they legit looked like they were good friends. They looked like they enjoyed being around each other. How much do you think that that's gonna work towards their advantage? Just one already, having some chemistry and having actual alignment between head coach and GM? What you want to be on the same page, right. That's, that's so key. One thing that, you know, um, that Dave Canalis said from the very beginning is we want to take advantage of what players like quarterback Bryce Young do well and build around them and make sure everyone can succeed from that way. Um, you know, he said back in their Seattle days, um, you know, him and, and Dan Morgan were a couple of doors down from each other. Um, even themselves, one thing they brought up in the press conference was a lot of times with the most successful NFL franchises, you almost have this working relationship, this dynamic between the general manager and the head coach. So, you know, it's at this point it's all sounds great. It's all kind of, you know, pie in the sky. Wow, fantastic. You have to wait to see what actually happens on the field. Uh And that's, that's gonna be key for, for Canalis and Morgan and all that just make it, make it be successful and get more than two wins. I think that's where the bar needs to reset, work from there. If you triple your wins from last year, you get six, I think pans or fans would definitely take that. Uh, it's just math, uh, at the end of the day and you're absolutely right at the end of the day, it's, you know, everybody's gonna be right now, but what happens on the field in the stadium that's behind us. Once the play starts in September, we'll see. But as for right now, Dave Canalis, new head coach of the Carolina Panthers. Dan Morgan, new general manager of the Carolina Panthers, things looking up. We'll see how they look during the season.

Lea & Fernandez react to Canales being introduced by the Carolina Panthers

Carolina Panthers Logo

WRAL's Chris Lea speaks with new Carolina Panthers general manager Dan Morgan after his introduction on Thursday.

<p>We have a brand new General manager of the Carolina Panthers. Dan Morgan joining me right now, Dan, you play for this team, of course, assistant general manager now, general manager, I know that you've had a lot of time to kind of think about it. But what's the excitement level for you to have this position for this team that you played for? I'm really excited. Um I'm enjoying the moment but I'm, I'm definitely ready to, to get the work, kind of have this behind me a little bit and get in the draft room, talk about free agency, talk about the draft and, um, you know, help build this roster, you know, make it a championship roster. You were a part of this team as they were building a roster the last few years. What's different under your leadership with you at the top versus, uh as the assistant general manager, right? You know, uh, you know, I think we're all different, right? Everybody's, you know, everybody has different philosophies, different plans the way they do things and, you know, that'll be no different with me. Um I'm gonna bring my style. Um I'm gonna bring you know, little things that I, that I think, you know, I may wanna implement. Um, and I'm gonna work my butt off to, to make sure that we feel a championship team. One thing I thought was interesting that you said in a press conference, you wanted opponents when they drive up to fear that logo. That's right there on your chest with what you know about Dave Canalis. How is he the right guy to help build this team in a way or help lead this team in a way as you're building it to make people fear that logo when they pull up. Yeah, I think, I think it's a culture thing. I think Dave's uh he's a culture builder and part of the culture is gonna be toughness, it's gonna be tenacity, you know, physical players. Um But we're also, you know, we're, we're gonna have our other side too, you know, we're gonna have the speed, the athleticism, more finesse stuff too, but we want, we want this logo to be feared. Um And we're gonna do everything in our power to make that happen. Take the Bo jingles and cook out after this. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Dan Morgan joined us. Thank you so much.</p>

1-on-1 with new Carolina Panthers general manager Dan Morgan

Carolina Panthers GM Dan Morgan and WRAL's Chris Lea

The Carolina Panthers introduced coach Dave Canales and General Manager Dan Morgan at a press conference on Thursday in Charlotte.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE HE SEES FOR SMALL BUSINESSES IS ACCESS TO CAPITAL. >> IT'S AN EXCITING DAY FOR CAROLINA PANTHERS FANS A SHORT TIME AGO THE TEAM'S NEW HEAD COACH AND THE GENERAL MANAGER WERE FORMALLY INTRODUCED AT BANK OF AMERICA STADIUM IN CHARLOTTE. EVERYONE IS BANKING ON DAVE CANALES TO TURN THE TEAM AROUND NEXT SEASON WRAL'S CHRIS LEE WAS IN THE BUILDING WHEN CANALES TALKED ABOUT HIS TIME LINE TO WIN. >> CHRIS JOINS US LIVE RIGHT NOW WITH THE PLANS FOR THE TEAM. KRESS. DENVER IN A LESS LIKE TALK ABOUT THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM. FIRST JUST 366 DAYS AGO, JANUARY 31ST. 2023. I WAS RIGHT HERE AT BANK OF AMERICA STADIUM AS THE CAROLINA PANTHERS INTRODUCED THEIR NEW HEAD COACH AT THAT TIME, FRANK. AND NOW A YEAR LATER, FRANK IS OUT OF THE BUILDING AND NOW ANOTHER NEW HEAD COACHES IN AND DAVE CANALES. NOW, OF COURSE, BEFORE YOU HAD MATT RHULE. >> YOU HAD FRANK LAST YEAR WHO DIDN'T LAST ABOUT HALFWAY THROUGH THE SEASON. THIS FAN BASE IS REALLY WARNING AND IT'S IN FOR THERE TO BE SOME WINDS. THIS TEAM HASN'T HAD A WINNING SEASON SINCE 2017 AT ONE IN THE PLAYOFFS SINCE 2015. BUT DAVE CANALES, EVEN LIKE THE 2 HEAD COACHES SAYS THAT HIS TIMELINE TO WIN IS RIGHT NOW. >> MY TIME LINES TODAY. HOW CAN WE WIN TODAY? LET'S HAVE A GREAT INTERACTION HERE. LET'S START TALKING ABOUT WHAT FOOTBALL YOU CAN EXPECT OUT OF US. AND SO TODAY THIS LOOKS LIKE A WIN FOR ME. AND THAT'S JUST THE WAY I THINK JUST APPROACHING EVERY SINGLE DAY. AS FOR STUNT. AND I GOT A NEW SET OF DOWNS, MY WHOLE CAUSE SHEETS AT MY DISPOSAL AND GOT A BUNCH OF FANTASTIC PEOPLE TO GO TO WORK WITH TODAY. IT LOOKS LIKE PUTTING A GREAT STAFF TOGETHER FOR ME RIGHT NOW. IT LOOKS LIKE GETTING WITH DAN LOOKING AT THIS ROSTER REALLY COMING UP WITH A WITH AN AIR TYPE PLAN FOR WE WANT TO BECOME. >> NOW, ONE OF THE THINGS I THOUGHT WAS VERY INTERESTING ABOUT A DAY'S PRESS CONFERENCE FROM DAN MORGAN, A NEW GENERAL MANAGER, OF COURSE, USE A PLAY FOR THE CAROLINA PANTHERS THAT HE SAID THAT NOW IN TEAMS PULL UP TO BANK OF AMERICA STADIUM, THEY DON'T FEAR THE LOGO ANYMORE. HE SAID WHEN HE PLAYED HERE IN EARLY 2, THOUSANDS TEAMS FEARED THE LOGO. THAT'S WHAT HE WANTS TO GET BACK TO. AND HE HOPES THAT DAVE CANALES CAN BE THAT GUY AS A HEAD COACH. HE WANTS TO BE THAT GUY'S GENERAL MANAGER WILL HAVE MORE FOR YOU GUYS AT 4, 5, 6, 7, 10:11PM TONIGHT FROM THIS GREAT PRESS CONFERENCE HERE, BANK OF AMERICA STADIUM ON THE NEW GENERAL DIRECTION OF THE CAROLINA PANTHERS. >> NO SHORTAGE OF ANALOGIES. THERE IS. THEY'RE COMING FROM THE HEAD COACH CHRIS LEE OVER

Panthers introduce Canales, Morgan to mark new era for franchise looking to turn a corner

Panthers GM Dan Morgan and coach Dan Canales

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Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales

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RJ Davis

The Panthers kept it in the family, prompting Dan Morgan to GM.

All right, Chris News came down today, Dan Morgan, formerly assistant general manager, now is the president of football operations and general manager of the Carolina Panthers. I don't get it. So David Tepper essentially looked out of his office, saw who was walking around and was like, hey, then come here, you wanna do something. Yeah, that's pretty much what happened. All right, as we get the sucker started, leave your thoughts in the comments section below. Let's get the sucker started. The state of North Carolina covers 53,000 square miles. It is the habitat of the no longer fear Carolina Panthers right now. We're cutting that off. We're cutting it off. No more fear. Carolina Panthers. I don't get this by the way again. That's Chris Lee Dennis Cox here with you on Panthers playbook again. Make sure you subscribe because when we have news like this breaking in the off season, we're gonna bring it for you. Whether it's here on 99 9, the fans youtube page, your favorite podcast platform, subscribe. Follow us there and hit the notification bell that way you don't miss any of this stuff again. Leave your thoughts in the comment section down below. Dan Morgan promoted to be the president of football operations and general manager of this team. So David Tepper make this make sense to me, Chris David Tepper from this team. That was the worst in the NFL this year. And you can say it was the worst Panthers team in, in their franchise history. If not one of them, you can make an argument like they're one of, they're one of, they're top 31 of three, top three easily. I was gonna say, I feel like there's another year that was a little bit worse than that. But you promoted it from within, like you promoted from within, like you elevated. Make it make sense to me, Chris. Yeah. One of the things I said a couple of weeks ago, I guess when we talked about this was like, I like Dan Morgan. I like the fact that he's a former Carolina Panther. Um, he did very well when he played, uh, with Charlotte and, um, you know, he's just, he's a Panther through and through and I love the fact that he came back, but when things have gone so bad and you look at the general manager's office, those are the people that are in charge of putting the roster together. So with how bad the roster was, how bad this whole year went, you had to get something completely new. Now, um, on the other end, I, I, I'm, I'm having a hard time spitting this out because I, I don't like to contradict myself on this show. But then, as you know, I like to, uh, find the positive in things. The only positive I can see in this is we have said that we wanted in some form or another somebody who is like an old school traditional Carolina panther to be involved somehow. Right? And Dan Morgan was already there already involved. Uh I was thinking maybe at least keep, keep him on as a GM again because after two and you know, 15, who's gonna pull him away for something better? That was kind of what I was thinking, you know, get somebody else in to be the, to be the GM and then keep him on as a GM. Um, but when I was listening to the driver, Tim Donnelly, uh the show that you, you work on. Tim said something that was very, um, interesting to me and something that II I pretty much agree with the only way this kind of makes sense to me as if he went into that meeting with David Tepper and essentially threw Scott Fitterer under the bus. Like, look, I didn't want to sign this guy. I didn't want to sign this guy. I thought this should have been a priority. I thought this other thing should have been a higher priority. I wouldn't have drafted this guy. I wouldn't have traded out of this spot. I wouldn't have done, you know, all of the things. Right. And, um, and, and he has facts and numbers to back it up, facts and numbers to back it up, numbers to back it up and, and that's really the only thing, uh, and, and this isn't anything against, uh, Dan Morgan. It's just more so the fact that everything was horrible last year. Now I get keeping on E ZERO EO if you can as defensive coordinator, I get keeping on Chris Tabor if you can as a special teams coordinator, less work for the, the new head coach to, to have to deal with. But the part that really worries me is we already know that David Tepper has been a micromanager and things go through him. Some of the head coach, some of the coaches on the staff that were there before thought that they didn't answer to Reich or Federer, they answered to David Tepper. So that's how they would go behind people's backs and start talking to Tepper because Dan Morgan was already in the building. Does this, does, can we now say that David Tepper is gonna have a setup to where he's gonna let Dan Morgan kind of run the show and be hands off. I doubt it. That was the main thing we wanted out of this whole thing. It's like for me, I didn't care who you named as long as you give them the free rein to do what they have to do David Tepper with you stepping out of it. I don't believe that that happens under uh Dan Morgan. If it does, Dan Morgan has the, has some really persuasive skills that, that man, he needs to teach classes on it because there's no way that any of that changes and that he gives free rein um to Dan Morgan to actually help build that team without his daily input on it. That's gonna, you know, make the Carolina. There's more of what they've already have been, which has been a losing franchise since David Tepper has taken over and bought the team. Look, I don't blame Dan Morgan for the promotion. Like what he's gonna say no, like, you know, you don't make the money. He's got, well, he's gonna take the job, he's gonna take the job promotion and all that. I, I don't blame Dan Morgan for all this, but does Tepper just hire another guest man, but that's really it. Like you just hire another guest, man that might, might have a slightly different point of view, but still is gonna try and follow the vision and what you and directives that you're given. Like that's, that's kind of what this feels like that. It's 100% what this feels like. Now, did you just fire skid Federer just to save face? But is that really what it was like? Well, just to say that I did something like, oh, I, I've got rid of Reich and I got rid of Federer just to say you did something just to promote from within and potentially just another. Yes, man. Now, here's the thing. If Dan Morgan does get control and flips this thing around, I'll sit here and say, you know what props to you keep this receipt, you can shove it back in my face. I have no problem with that, but right now this invokes zero faith and zero hope. None whatsoever. I, none of this, none of this. Actually I take this back, Tim or, or, and I was working with Tim just a little bit ago. Uh You mentioned Tim's name. This actually makes perfect sense. It makes perfect sense and I'll explain why this just popped into my head. What does David Tepper want? Someone that will do his bidding, someone that he can puppet and in control, pull the strings, right? Well, then this makes perfect sense. You hire the guy that was right down the hall. That makes perfect sense. I was already a yes man to what you were doing from the guy that was ahead of him and Scott Federer. This makes perfect sense. Makes perfect sense whenever the media gets a chance to interview Dan Morgan and probably the eventual head coach at some press conference that they're gonna hold within the next, I would presume two weeks. Um The main thing I would wanna know from Dan Morgan is what's going to be different between you and Scott Fitterer having that same position? Are you going to have more leeway to make decisions without David Tepper? Kind of looking over your shoulder and dictating moves? Are you going to build a better team than what Scott Fitterer was able to do? And how are you able to do that? What are some of the mistakes that Scott Fitterer made over the last three seasons that you've now learned from that? Now you can take and build a better team over the next couple of seasons. Those are the, those are the things that I'm interested in learning, uh from this because like we can't change it right now, right? Like it's, it's, it's now happened. It's been announced, it's there, it's what's going to happen. But now that you have this time to be in this position to actually plan the draft and to plan free agency, what is going to be different about the way you approach everything versus how Scott Fitterer approached everything, uh because, you know, we mortgaged the Carolina Panthers mortgaged way too many draft picks to fill that one position of quarterback. And I know that a lot of people are out on Bryce Young because it's easy to look around and say CJ Stroud has done this and the Carolina Panthers are only two and, and 14 under Bryce Young, I get it. I understand it. It makes sense. However, um the main part of this is going to be what the new head coach is gonna ha, is gonna be able to do to change this team. And what team is actually gonna be out there on the field when the new season starts in September. And I'm telling you what, I don't like anything that the Carolina Panthers really have done from, uh, a free agent standpoint for the last three years. I mean, Johnny Hecker was an amazing pickup, especially for a team that punts that much. Uh So he's probably the best pickup uh that they've had, but we need to do something better than punter. We need to do something better than the last two drafts that we've had, you know, like you, you look down, you know it and shout outs to um I can't remember his name off the top of my head right now, but I, I retweeted him today, uh because he put out a tweet where he was showing, you know, the same draft where we got uh uh uh Terri Marshall Junior, you know, who was available after that? Who is that? Nico Collins, Josh Palmer, Aman Rosa Brown and, you know, Marshall has one touchdown, all three of those guys combined for 41 touchdowns. It was from John Ellis, one panty player wanted to give him, give him his uh his props for that. Um And, and it's, it's like, what are we gonna do to address those things guys that were available in the draft. I mean, we could spend a whole episode just on that on all the guys who have been available that the Carolina Panthers have not picked. What are we gonna do to address that? And what is that gonna look like in the upcoming draft? And is Dan Morgan gonna pick the head coach or is, or is David Tepper gonna pick the head coach? Those are the things that I'm interested in learning. It's interesting that you bring that up because during the head coaching interviews because up until recently, I think it was actually today, we're recording this on Monday, uh the 22nd, but I think it was up until today, you can only do virtual interviews with head coaches or potential head coaches that are currently on staff with other teams. So Dan Morgan was in on these interviews as part of them. It's like it was a kind of a, it felt like a conflict of interest because if Dan Morgan is interviewing for, to be the general manager, which obviously he got, but he's also interviewing for next head coach is like, is he how is he shaping the way he interviews in terms of? Well, I really like this guy. So I'm gonna make this oi I like this one person, you know, like, you know, person a you know, I'm just gonna throw out a name, not saying this is what it is, but let's say it was Uh, Bobby Slock, you know, the, the offensive coordinator for the Houston Texas, maybe he really likes him. But Brian Callahan, the, the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, you know, because he likes sloe so much. Maybe he made it seem like Brian Callahan really didn't do as good because he wants Bobby Sloe. Like it feels like there's a conflict of interest there even before he was actually promoted to be the general manager. I hope that all makes sense. There's, I don't know the way this whole thing is operating right now. Chris, just the, the procedure of all of it. I'm sorry, like the, the, the, the, the dumpster fire, that was this season, like, I'm sorry, that's still smoldering right now. Like it still stinks like that, that sense, not gone away and, and, and this, this just kind of adds like, I don't know, more fuel to the fire, whatever, whatever term we want to use, but I don't know him being part of the interviews for the head coach doesn't make sense to me. At least up until now it does. Here's the part that's gonna be tough to, to sell Panthers fans on. It's, it's the fact that, um, you've had two bad head coaching hires from David Tepper, uh Matt Rue Frank Reich, we know how those ended. We don't have to go over it again. And so, and then also a bad GM hire. And so at this point, like what can you do? What kind of a splash can you make to make, uh, the fan base happy? There's really nothing you can really do honestly. Right, because at this point, we don't trust your judgment and we don't trust anything you do. So it's really gonna have to be proven on the field. And I, I really hope for, for their sake that they get some things turned around. Like, uh, you know, I'm not saying that the Carolina Panthers should make the, the playoffs in 2024 but they need to at least double or triple your win total from 2023 and then like, triple it get us six wins and, and then like, let's try to feel like, ok, maybe we are on the right track somehow or another and it, but it, it doesn't that feel like when I say that, like, doesn't that even feel like that is almost like an impossible feat, like get six wins? Yeah, that feels, it sounds impossible right with this roster? That's, that's the thing as well. It's like you wanna increase wins from this roster who was one of the people that helped put this roster together, the guy you just promoted to beat the general manager. Like that's the thing. Like you want to fix the roster and rebuild this team. Why are you bringing up someone who's responsible for putting together this awful roster? That doesn't make any sense to me. Why and I think, I think that's one of the questions that we have to ask as the media. Uh When, when Dan Morgan is eventually made available when you were a GM under Scott Fitterer, I know you're not gonna go through and say no, I didn't wanna sign Hayden Hurst, right? Like he's not gonna say that cause Hayden Hurst is on the roster. But were there moments that Scott Federer was making moves that you disagreed with? And is that ultimately one of the reasons why you got this job? Because if we're gonna get more of the same, then why fire Scott in the first place? Great question. Great question. And, and that, that's the question that time will tell time will tell him that he's got a lot of decisions that he's got to make coming up because not only has he got to pick a new head coach, he's still got to figure out what to do with Brian Burns in terms of or obviously the franchise tag or contract extension. Derek Brown needs a contract extension. You gotta figure out if you're gonna pick up JC Moon's fifth year option. Frankie Luu, like there's so much in the, you got the draft coming up as well if you don't have a lot of draft capital. Good luck, man. Seriously getting Bryce the number one receiver, maybe in that interview, he told maybe you know what? I I don't get it. I just, none of it makes sense, Chris. But you know what, make sure watch this, that you stay locked in on 99 9. The fans youtube page subscribe. Folks really do subscribe. Please do uh we love when you leave mentioned in the comment section. Uh Vent, hey, you know, if you agree with this decision, say why if you disagree with this decision, say why if you're indifferent, say why let us know in the comments. But again, make sure you subscribe and follow that way. You don't miss any of this stuff because at some point, a head coach is gonna be announced, Chris and we're gonna have to talk about it and good luck probably really, really soon too. And I'm gonna have to make another trip to Charlotte. Why does this feel like is gonna be the head coach now? Like I, that's my gut's now telling me that, you know what I've, I've been thinking that like I was just like, what if Tepper just stays all the way in house and if that were to happen and the Carolina Panthers do make a turnaround somehow or another. Um It really shows how bad the hires of GM and head coach really were. And then at least it shows some type of self-awareness that you had the right people in the building all along. It's just that you, you overthought the other positions now, that's just me projecting and, and putting it out there. I don't know but even if, if, if he announces that, uh, row is the new head coach, I think still it's gonna feel just like this, it's gonna feel like, bro, what do we do? What are we doing? We'll see you next time here on Panthers play whenever that might be.

Panthers Playbook: New GM a familiar face

99.9 The Fan's Tim Donnelly shares his initial reaction to the Carolina Panthers hiring Dan Morgan as its new general manager.

The drive with Tim Donnelly 99 9. The fan. This is a special overtime edition of the Drive overdrive overdrive edition of the Drive because uh today is Monday, January 22nd and with 2.5 minutes left in our show today, uh news broke that the Panthers had found their GM and they didn't have to look for and I have reactions that I couldn't fit into 2.5 minutes. So we're back. This is one of the more baffling decisions I can remember in, in NFL hiring and firing Dan Morgan uh is the new GM of the, the Carolina Panthers. You may remember Dan Morgan as somebody that was in the front office already. I believe it was the assistant general manager uh for the, the Carolina Panthers over the last three years. You may remember him from his time as a player where he spent seven years playing for the, the Carolina Panthers. Um Here's the deal. My criticism that I am about to give to this higher is, is very little to do with Dan Morgan, the person than Dan Morgan. Heck even the executive, it has everything to do with moving on from what disaster you put on the field in 2023 and starting fresh. 2023. We've broken it down on the show before. Uh, it's the worst season in franchise history. 2020 or sorry. 2001 was pretty bad. 2019 was pretty bad in some ways. Uh, you know, 2010 was pretty bad for my money. This was the worst season in franchise history. So when you fire the GM, it's tough to turn around and stay in the house for the, the, the hire for the simple fact of you fired Scott Fitterer to move on from the people that assembled this year's roster. You know, it's, it's, it's funny because, uh, I'll use like Adam Gold, who, who hosts on this network, good friend of the show. Uh, as soon as this hire happened, he retweeted the, the, one of the announcements hiring, you know, hey, Dan Morgan's a new GM and his response was simply gotta rebuild the roster. How ridiculous is it that you would hire somebody who was a part of putting together the roster to rebuild the roster? That's, that's like I painted the walls and then you hire me to paint over the walls that I painted. It's like, well, I was just the assistant painter the first time I'm going to a completely new firm, I'm going to a completely new, uh, painting organization. I'm not going try again unless you're giving me a discount or something like that, then it's a whole other story new paints the whole deal. I have the, uh, the statement from, from David Tepper in front of me. Uh, this is in part Dan has a thorough knowledge of our football personnel and a clear vision to take us where we all want to go. We know he will attack this opportunity with the same intensity he did as a Panthers player. He has a full knowledge of the personnel because he helped choose them. And the first thing I think you need to do is change most of the personnel. I don't care if you know the guy, I care that you want to replace the guy. Right. Oh, he knows our offensive line very, very well. I'm like, good. I hope he doesn't know next year's offensive line very, very well because I hope most of them are different. Oh, he knows our defensive, uh, front very, very well, great outside of Brian Burns and Derek Brown. I don't think you need to know the rest of them. Maybe the ones that are still on rookie contracts because you can, you can salvage some of that. I, I look at it like it, it very simply, I look at this as, uh, the Panthers had an opportunity to change the direction of their franchise, which based on where they've been the last five years under David Tepper, they needed to change the direction of their franchise. It's, it's right when, when he took over, they were a playoff team, been getting worse ever since. Just down and down and down. They, they, they had an opportunity to change things. Now, Dan, for most, uh, Dan Morgan, for, from most of the, the reports is gonna have the personnel say. Right. So he's the one deciding which players are good, which ones are part of the future, which ones they should target in the draft, which ones they should target in free agency and trades and they'll bring in somebody else to be the the cap analytics guru. I think he could have gotten 22 outsiders. I think he could have really taken this opportunity to start fresh. I'm not sure I want somebody that's been around this franchise. I'm not sure I want somebody that's been around this roster uh having a say in what happens to it moving forward. And again, I wanna say this with my chest because it's, it's always tough to criticize the hire of a player who is kind of a franchise legend. Right. Morgan did play with the Panthers for seven seasons, right. Morgan was known for his, his, you know, kind of kukly before kukly like heady play or whatever you want to call it all those things they say about Jim Rats or whatever he, he, he, he's good, right? Made a bunch of tackles in the Super Bowl. I got you. I hear you. No disrespect to him. It was about moving on from last year, right. Uh Starting fresh. I imagine if they fired Frank Reich and then hired Frank Reich's right hand man. It would feel weird, wouldn't it? It would feel like no, I think we, I think we were trying to go in a different direction. He was Scott Fitter's right hand man for the last three years. Now. I said this on, on my initial reaction on the show. The only way this makes any sense is if he had some kind of proof, like if they have a, a slack channel or a teams or a Google doc somewhere where I mean, they've made some really bad personnel decisions over the last couple of years if he has documentation where he was the only one in the room saying I think this is a bad idea, right? If he was the only one saying, well, maybe we keep DJ Moore. So Bryce Young has a number one option at wide receiver, if he was the only one saying maybe we don't trade up for DJ Johnson if he was the only one saying, you know, I, I don't think we need Terrace Marshall Junior. I think we might be able to roll with Nico Collins who was drafted far after him in that draft. Like, and I don't know if he was around how long ago that was Dan Morgan's been there for like three years. Um Unless he has documentation that says proof that says somebody backing him up, somebody else that was in the room going. Yeah, Dan was standing on the table saying that was a really dumb move. Uh Dan was the only one saying we either need to resign, Brian Burns or or sorry, extend Brian Burns or accept the two first round picks we were getting from the Rams in an offer. There's no way we should let this drag out and, and unless they have proof, a witness, a bunch of witnesses written documentation, something that says all of these little decisions that led to the worst season in Panthers history. Dan Morgan was vehemently opposed of those little decisions. I don't know what we're doing here because if he's cosigning some of these decisions, that's enough to say, Dan, we love you. I would even be open to maybe keeping him as some kind of lieutenant role to whoever the next, you know, leaders of the franchise are because he is somebody that means something to the Panthers but rolling with the, the same SS. It's just, it doesn't make sense, it doesn't. And, and the like this is pretty stream of consciousness. I mean, obviously we've been doing a lot of, uh, you know, talk about who the G M's gonna be, who the head coach is gonna be when there's this many problems on the tip of my tongue. This, no, this news broke 17 minutes ago like it and, and I've been talking here on this pod for like, I don't know, 5678 of them. Like this is, this is a really tough look. Dennis. What am I missing? I think you're pretty spot on, on this. I mean, so when things are a dumpster fire, you're going to promote the understudies. Like that's the thing I, I don't get, I mean, unless, unless, um, 90% of the decisions that were made by Scott Fitterer as a general manager, Dan Organ is like, I don't like this. I don't like this. I don't like this. And if David Tepper was hearing that, but Tepper was backing up Fitterer and he's like, well, ok, you said this is the reason why they're wrong. Ok. I, I don't know, I, I, ok, I don't get it. Let's don't get it. Let's put on our, our tinfoil hats quickly here. Um, could this be David Tepper knows? I don't want to say Dan Morgan owes him now, but Dan Morgan listens if that makes any. Like, it's obvious David Tepper wants a lot of control over this franchise, right? The, the impatience, the meddling that we've heard and, and, and it has been reported a bunch over the last few years. If he's looking for a yes man, it's, it's easier to know if you have one if they're already in the building than to hire someone else and just think Oh, I can get them to do what I want. Maybe he just knows Dan Morgan is somebody that, you know, can handle the day to day the waiver and all that sort of stuff. And he'll come down to my office and I'll tell him what to do with the first round picks and I'll tell him what to do with Brian Burns and I'll tell him what to do with the high leverage fund decisions that are, it's like I get to play fantasy football and, and he will handle, you know, making sure our, our practice squad is up to date and making sure we have a punt returner. You know, every, every single week, maybe this was the, the easiest way for David Tepper to get everything he wants, which I would guess is not everything that's best for the franchise, but that, that's a little bit more tinfoil hat. Uh We'll, we'll talk about it on Tuesday's show with Ton on the drive 99 9. The fan at three o'clock. Hope to hear you. Hope to see you there so you can hear us, I guess would be the way to put that, uh, until then have a great night. Everybody Panthers fans stay strong out there.

REACTION: The Carolina Panthers hire Dan Morgan as GM

99.9 The Fan Tim Donnelly

The Carolina Panthers will promote assistant general manager Dan Morgan to president of football operations/general manger. 