The Carolina Panthers have a division game to play in about an hour. Today’s big stories are all about the future of the franchise, though. This morning, Ian Rapoport at NFL Network reported the team is expected to trade Cam Newton this offseason, provided they can get a large enough return in the deal. Now, we have reporting on who may be joining the new-look front office in 2020.
According to Adam Schefter at ESPN, team owner David Tepper has his eye on two Steelers executives.
“There are those around the league who believe that Tepper is eyeing Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert, whose contract is up after this season, and/or vice president of football and business administration Omar Khan, according to league sources.”
Tepper has a lot of connections to Pittsburgh as he’s a minority owner there. He will have to sell that stake as part of buying the Panthers, though. Nevertheless, at some point Tepper was going to lean on his experience with the Steelers. This could be the first real step in that direction.
If the idea is to follow Pittsburgh’s blueprint, then Tepper has the right idea. One thing the Panthers organization needs is consistency. They have never compiled two winning seasons in a row. Meanwhile, the Steelers are a model of continuity: they have only employed three head coaches since 1969 and haven’t had a losing record since 2003.
This season, they’re in the middle of a wild card race despite a series of disasters at the quarterback position, punctuated by Ben Roethlisberger’s season ending injury. Pittsburgh’s decision to trade a first-round draft pick to the Dolphins for Minkah Fitzpatrick has paid off in a huge way. That’s the kind of bold move that can keep teams competitive despite being limited by serious injuries – and it’s an element that’s been missing in Charlotte for too long.
The question is if qualified candidates like Colbert and Khan will be willing to take a position that is subordinate to Carolina’s current general manager Marty Hurney. Based on Tepper’s public comments over the last few days, Hurney’s job sounds completely safe.
