This could be the earliest an NFL head coach has been fired but Matt Rhule is out as the Carolina Panthers’ head coach. Now, who replaces him?
If you can coach football, you don’t have to be good, you can make a lot of money. Take Matt Rhule for example. He was hired as the head coach of the Carolina Panthers in 2020 with a $60 million plus contract and now, he will get paid while the Panthers pay someone else to do his job.
With only five weeks gone in the NFL season, the Panthers will appoint Steve Wilks interim head coach and then will begin to work on filling Rhule’s job. But who are the candidates? This early in the season, the best coaches are employed.
The list of names ahead of the 2023 season will be a long one but there will be plenty of NFL teams looking for a head coach after the season, the Panthers are just getting a jump start on it.
Since their inception in 1995, the Panthers have gone through five head coaches which overall isn’t bad for most NFL franchises. Rhule lasted only two full seasons and never got the Panthers over five wins, in fact, the Panthers haven’t won more than five games since the 2018 season when they won seven. It will be up to the next HC to turn this franchise around. Here are five possibilities.
Sean Payton will get a lot of looks this off-season and it would be impossible to think he would entertain the Carolina Panthers but it would be a coup if they pulled it off.
Payton left the Saints prior to the season stating he needed to take a break. He was quickly linked to the Miami Dolphins who were penalized for tampering with the coach while still under contract with the Saints. The Saints denied them permission to speak.
New Orleans still holds the contract rights for Payton so they have some say in where he goes next year. It would be hard to believe they would allow him to coach a team in the same division so this is very unlikely but the Panthers still need to make an attempt to land him. If they do, you can expect the Panthers to turn around much quicker but that will not guarantee a playoff birth or a challenge for the division just yet. There is a lot of work to do on the team.
Payton would be a good head coach in Carolina but if you are betting on this one, take a pass unless the Panthers offer up something spectacular or Payton decides to force the issue…neither is likely.
Brian Flores found his name mentioned quite a bit this off-season for all the wrong reasons but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t get another chance, maybe with the Carolina Panthers.
In Miami, Flores turned around a floundering franchise but his inability to get along with the internal executives led to a messy early divorce. Flores made it through only three of five seasons and it was said that everyone from General Manager Chris Grier to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was on his radar.
When Flores we fired after the conclusion of the 2021 season, he took the media route to expose cheating allegations and claims of NFL biased toward coaches of color. He is currently serving as a defensive assistant with the Steelers.
On the field, Flores built a formidable defense in Miami that ran off seven straight wins after seven straight losses narrowly missing the postseason.
Flores would bring a tough mentality to Carolina and make players accountable for what they do. If they can’t get on board, they won’t be sticking around. His problems, however, are on the offensive side of the ball where he was unable to find successful coordinators. It’s a problem he may face again in Carolina.
Shane Steichen is going to be a hot name come to the end of the season if the Philadelphia Eagles continue to rip apart opponents and could fit with the Carolina Panthers.
The offensive coordinator has his team competing each week and winning football games. The 5-0 record is not lost on the media so expect Steichen’s name to come up towards the end of the year.
While coaching with the Chargers he was a big part of the development of Justin Herbert won the AFCOPY award. He has similarly done well with Jalen Hurts who is already hearing his name mentioned for the end-of-year awards season.
Steichen is young and promising but do the Panthers want a new HC or an established candidate with a resume? It’s a tough decision to make considering that most HCs don’t work out in their second go-arounds either.
Every HC has to be an HC for the first time so this could go either way but for now, Steichen is a name that Panther fans need to get familiar with as it would be surprising if he wasn’t at least interviewed for the job.
Kellen Moore should get a job this year and his work the Cowboys through the first five weeks of the season is impressive. The Carolina Panthers would be a great fit for Moore and his offensive mind.
The Panthers need help on both sides of the ball so finding a head coach who can bring in quality assistants to run the opposite of his expertise will be important for the growth of any team and this is where Moore may fail. Moore is well respected around the league but can he convince other coaches to join him in Carolina?
Most coaches looking to get promoted won’t have a problem joining him in Carolina but at the same time, finding qualified and experienced staff is hard for a coach with little experience because their jobs could easily be on the line if that head coach doesn’t work out.
The Panthers would be crazy not to interview Moore with a sincere interest in hiring him. He could completely revamp the Panthers’ offense and then they only need to worry about getting their defense up to par. Either way, an offensive mind seems to be a smart move but I think they go differently.
Dan Quinn makes more sense than most coaches that will be available when the season is over and he checks the boxes the Carolina Panthers should be looking for.
Quinn, the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator, has previous head coaching experience. He coached the Atlanta Falcons for six seasons from 2015 to 2020.
Hiring a defensive-minded coach may not be the route Carolina wants to go but Quinn could pick up with the talent the Panthers have put on the field on that side of the ball. Quinn also has a great reputation in the NFL coaching circles so finding quality assistants on both sides of the ball will be easier than a first-time HC.
Quinn also happens to be coaching one of the top defensive units in the NFL this year and he is the one who helped build it as opposed to inheriting the players. He has been in Dallas since the 2021 season and Dallas has looked much better defensively with him calling the shots.
Of all the coaches, Quinn is a real possibility for the Panthers and they should put a lot of focus on making this happen when the season is over.