CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ Matt Rhule was high on energy and low on specifics Wednesday during his first press conference in his new job.
"I will work tirelessly each day to bring you guys a championship," Rhule, the new Panthers head coach, said, "because that's what this region deserves."
Rhule's charisma and his gift for public speaking were all obvious. The man is a born motivator.
But the road to that potential Carolina Super Bowl win shimmering in the distance _ the same vision the Panthers have been chasing unsuccessfully for the past 25 years _ will be a bumpy one.
Rhule got a seven-year contract from owner David Tepper, which is a good thing, because this is going to take awhile. He inherits a Carolina team that finished 2019 on an eight-game losing streak. And his quarterback situation is iffy. Cam Newton's last two seasons have ended prematurely by injury, and he has only one season left on his contract. I got the first question in at Rhule's press conference, and figured I should ask about his plans for Newton.
Rhule's response dodged the issue as adeptly as a matador sidestepping a bull.
"Yeah, to be quite fair," he started, "I probably haven't had a chance with regards to any player to talk with Marty (Hurney, the team's general manager) and Mr. Tepper in terms of the long-term vision. I would never want to speak out of school. ... What I will say is this: I had a chance to talk to Cam yesterday and I have the utmost respect for him and what he's done. And I love the way he talked to me, to be quite honest. He didn't want to talk about the past, he wanted to talk about the future."
Rhule was vague about what that uncertain future held, however, and said no more about their conversation.
I get that.
After 24 hours on the job, you don't immediately say you're going to move on from the team's franchise quarterback for the past nine years. And with Newton's injured foot still an issue, you also couldn't say you're definitely starting him opening day.
I still think Rhule, Hurney and Tepper will ultimately decide to part with Newton, either via a trade or a release, sometime this offseason. It's not the $21.1 million Newton is due if he stays so much as it is that the Panthers are now in obvious rebuilding mode.
"We sort of have an open canvas," Hurney said Wednesday when describing what sort of stamp Rhule can put on this franchise.
Or, as Tepper later said: "We're in the building process here, and sometimes you have to tear things down to build them up."
That doesn't sound like the ideal situation for Newton, who will be 31 soon and entering his 10th NFL season. A place where they are tearing it down in order to build it back up? That sounds like a place where a young quarterback should be taking his lumps and growing along with his team.
But Rhule wouldn't commit on his quarterback one way or the other, on that or much of anything else. He used the word "process" a lot, and the word "build," and the word "toughness." He did say that he generally favors a 4-3 over a 3-4 defense, which will be good news to Luke Kuechly fans. And he was funny telling a couple of stories about his family _ he and wife Julie brought their three young children to the press conference.
