NFL head coach carousel 2023: Ranking the available jobs
Carolina Panthers
Pros:
- Ownership with deep pockets
- Opportunity to reshape the roster as the HC sees fit
- Strong 2023 NFL Draft capital (4 picks in top 100)
- Good defensive pieces on the roster
- NFC South is ripe for the taking
Cons:
- Team traded away key pieces in 2022 (Namely, McCaffrey)
- HC will likely get to pick QB, but who?
- Less than $2M in projected 2023 cap space currently
- Very few building blocks offensively
The Carolina Panthers’ job is a pretty attractive one because over the course of the last handful of months, they have made this job somewhat of a blank canvas for someone to come in and paint as they see fit. They have a GM, Scott Fitterer, in place, but the Panthers would probably be willing to grant roster authority to a new head coach and I doubt David Tepper would spare any expense to get his top target.
Playing in the NFC is helpful, playing in the NFC South is even more helpful. I think this is a very attractive job for someone to come in and set the culture how they want it to be. The QB position must be the first order of business for whatever the new brain trust looks like.
What we’ve seen from the Panthers is a willingness to be aggressive and go after positions of need no matter if it’s in free agency, through trades, or the NFL Draft. They have already proven their willingness to do what it takes to win, even if they did a little bit of tanking in 2022 roster-wise.
Still, that tanking didn’t prevent Steve Wilks from doing an absolutely outstanding job. From that vantage point, you might look at this job as an NFL head coach candidate and say that Steve Wilks deserves to be the top candidate, so perhaps other candidates will leave it alone and hope that the Panthers make the right decision, allowing Wilks to build on the strong finish we’ve seen in 2022.