The Carolina Panthers are getting ready to try to prove a lot of naysayers wrong in 2023—and they don’t need a fancy sign, slogan or saying to get their message across.
. . . Okay, maybe just one.
On Tuesday, the team’s veterans arrived at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. for the start of this year’s training camp. Defensive lineman Derrick Brown was the first player to speak with reporters during move-in day and said there aren’t any bells and whistles when it comes to the new regime’s goal.
“Other than, ‘We wanna win.’ That’s the thing,” he replied when asked if there are any special themes to the season. “I don’t think very many people give us a chance at the beginning of the year to do much of anything. So I think for us to be able to come down here, workin’ with the staff, workin’ with these guys and then going out here and proving folks wrong. I think that’s the only message that the team’s got over here right now.”
Before stepping into the Frank Reich era, the team had quite a few messages, posters and t-shirts under previous head coach Matt Rhule. Rhule’s, um unique brand of leadership, one that promoted rah-rah ideas in the form of acronyms such as “DBO,” or “Don’t beat ourselves,” and “OOU,” or “One of us,” ultimately didn’t get over quite well.
But Brown, who was the very first draft pick of the Rhule era, had his own saying to summarize what he’s thinking this summer.
“They say about snakes, ‘They won’t bite you until you see it,'” he said with a smile. “It’s one of those things I think in my head that we got every opportunity above us right now.”
