Is There Still Trust in Rhule's Process?
At this point in the season, teams who have been eliminated from the playoffs could show signs of waving the white flag. Contrary to popular belief, that is not the Carolina Panthers. Sure, the games haven't been pretty and at times, rather ugly on the offensive side of the ball, but the effort this team is playing with tells me all I need to know about where they stand with their head coach, Matt Rhule.
In a very good, juicy article by Joe Person of The Athletic, sources from inside the building mentioned that there is some skepticism from the players of Rhule's process. In my opinion, I believe it's frustration more than anything. I don't see it as this being a case where players have checked out on Matt Rhule. They are still going out there preparing at a high level, giving high-level effort, and several players have publicly supported Rhule including QB Cam Newton, DE Brian Burns, WR Robby Anderson, and others.
Following the loss to New Orleans on Sunday, linebacker Shaq Thompson was asked if he felt like Rhule has lost the locker room and was kind of taken off guard by the question.
"I don't know what you're talking about that he [Matt Rhule] lost the locker room and stuff like that. I don't think he lost the locker room at all. People may be frustrated, yeah," Thompson said. "We just got to keep our head up and keep fighting for each other. At the end of the day, I learned from Luke [Keuchly] and TD [Thomas Davis] and the biggest thing is 'Keep Pounding'. Regardless if we're losing, we've got to come out here and keep playing. But this locker room though, there's a lot of guys that come in each and every day regardless win, lose, draw, we are going to come in here and work."
One thing that has impressed Rhule is the fact that so many guys are still focused on winning now and are not looking ahead to next year. For example, a guy like Stephon Gilmore is set to be a free agent this offseason. He could decide not to risk further injury to his groin in a "meaningless game" and shut it down for the season. He texted Matt Rhule over the weekend and told him that he's going to do everything he can to try and be available for the regular season finale in Tampa Bay. That right there is another example that Rhule hasn't lost the locker room.
"This is a results business. People want results. I want results. The guys want results," Rhule told reporters Monday afternoon. "I think when you're on the inside, you see all the good things and the bad things. Sometimes when you lose, all sorts of different things get out, agendas get out. In my opinion, those guys went out there and laid it on the line yesterday. And to me, just as a football fan, meant a great deal. You see a lot of teams coming down the stretch talking about making business decisions, they lay down, but I thought our guys went out there this past game and they played hard and they played physical. But they have to get up off the mat this week and go out there and play again."
People do have agendas and they want to create storylines about this team and coaching staff that fit their narrative. Running back Ameer Abdullah said he's been on teams in the past where there was division in the locker room, but he doesn't see that happening here. Some of the mainstream national media picks at every little thing that Rhule says in postgame press conferences that have absolutely nothing to do with his ability to coach or lead. Those same folks will argue that he lacks evaluating talent and struggles with personnel decisions, yet he drafted Jeremy Chinn in the 2nd round, drafted potentially his left tackle of the future, Brady Christensen in the 3rd round, drafted Chuba Hubbard in the 4th, and oh yeah, had arguably the best signing in free agency with linebacker Haason Reddick.
Was trading three picks for Sam Darnold a bad trade? Not really because this recouped those picks via trades with Houston, Philadelphia, and Denver. The real issue was picking up the 5th-year option on Darnold before he ever played a snap in Carolina. As I've said many times before, it's hard to evaluate Rhule and this staff until they find an answer at quarterback. Darnold wasn't their first choice last offseason. In fact, he was more like their third option behind Deshaun Watson and Matthew Stafford. I'm not sold on the fact that he will be the right guy to turn this organization around, but it's way too early to tell, in my opinion.
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