CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ There are a lot of unusual things about the 2019 Panthers.
Cam Newton will miss all but two games with a foot injury, not the shoulder that had ailed him. Ron Rivera, a beloved coach and person _ both by Charlotte and the people within the Panthers organization _ was fired with four games to go.
And the offensive coordinator's son is taking over for his dad.
Among the changes accompanying Rivera's dismissal Tuesday, Scott Turner is the new offensive coordinator, replacing his father, Norv Turner, who is now the special assistant to the head coach.
The younger Turner has been the Panthers quarterbacks coach since 2018. He was also with the Panthers from 2011-12 as the offensive quality control coach, his first role in the NFL.
Turner has spent a lot of time working with his father on different NFL teams, including in Minnesota, where he worked with Teddy Bridgewater as quarterbacks coach while his dad was offensive coordinator. He is also a former wide receivers coach with the Browns.
But the opportunity ahead of the 37-year-old is a new one. For the first time, he will be responsible for calling offensive plays for the entire game.
When it came time to fix the offense, promoting Turner made sense to the former Panthers coach, despite Turner's inexperience.
"(Panthers owner David Tepper) was trying to figure out what to do on the offensive side, and we talked about it and I said, 'Dave, I promise you if you talk to Norv about it, he'd be all for giving Scotty the opportunity' and the thing that you can do is have him as the assistant head coach/senior offensive assistant to help," Rivera said of the coaching change. "I think that's cool too, because Scotty, he's on the edge he's on the precipice, he's ready. I'm excited for those guys."
