Why Moving on From Matt Rhule Now Would Make Zero Sense
When he was hired to become the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, Matt Rhule knew the situation he was stepping into. It was a franchise that needed to start anew and essentially flip its entire roster, meaning that success wasn't expected to happen immediately.
Here we are with four games left of the second season under Rhule and fans are clamoring for him to be fired. Shocking, right? We live in a world of instant gratification and when the results aren't what fans want them to be, they will find every little thing that head coach is doing "wrong". I'm not here to tell you that Rhule is going to be the guy to turn the ship around. But I'm also not here to say he needs to be canned just two years into his seven year contract. My suggestion is to be patient and wait until the end of year three to truly form your opinion.
Rhule's track record shows that year three is where the turnaround happens. Both at his previous stops of Temple and Baylor, year one was difficult. Year two they were improved but had a lot of ups and downs - inconsistent football. By year three, he had those programs playing at a conference championship level. Now, does this mean he will have this team in the NFC title game next season? No, but they should get over the hump with a winning record and into the playoffs.
Team owner David Tepper knew that results weren't going to be there right away, which is why he gave Rhule the long contract. The Panthers could lose the remaining four games of the season, which is a real possibility, and Rhule will almost certainly retain his job. If the guy's history shows that he turns it around in year three, how much sense does it make to fire him going into the year he's expected to do it? In order to build something, you need time to do it, especially if you burn the whole thing down to begin with.
Going back to the comments that Tepper made on the day of introducing Rhule as the head coach, he talked a lot about patience. This is what leads me to believe a coaching change won't happen this offseason.
"You can see how he built these programs and how he takes things that are hard and makes them better. Like you said, be the best 8-8 team, be the best 10-6 team etc. There's a long-time commitment here," Tepper told reporters. "I understand it takes time to build things up. You have to do a little breaking down before you can build them up. I'm not saying it's going to happen fast on the football side. It takes time and you've got to develop players. But this is a master developer of men. I think we can have something special here, something just a little bit different. Look at the programs he was at. Think about this for a second, you're at Temple with what they had there. Look at Baylor and the classes he brought in and what he's done with those young men there. He wasn't up there in the top ten bringing in classes like Oklahoma was. He was bringing in classes ranked No. 35 because of the situation there and look what he's done to build it there with limited resources. We're going to build the best facility down in Rock Hill here pretty soon, the best. So, we've got a master developer that never had the resources before that's shown that he can do it with less. What do you think he can do with more?
Sure, the results may not be what you want them to be but there's no way around it, this was what was going to happen the first couple of years. There's been a lot of complaining on Rhule's personnel decisions in regards to the offensive line and quarterback, and rightfully so. However, I could argue that his primary focus was to build up the defense first. I mean, the guy did spend every draft pick in his first draft on all defensive players. Then, last offseason he went out and signed LB Haason Reddick, CB A.J. Bouye, DE Morgan Fox, DT DaQuan Jones, LB Frankie Luvu, and traded for former defensive player of the year, CB Stephon Gilmore. For that side of the ball to be as good as it has been this season, it shows that Rhule is capable of building something.
What would make you think he can't do it on the offensive side of the ball? Yes, giving up three draft picks for Sam Darnold hurts but they got a 6th round pick back for dealing Teddy Bridgewater to Denver, a 4th round pick from Houston during a draft day trade, and had an extra third round pick last year from Philadelphia to draft Brady Christensen. So essentially, they recouped the picks that they dished out to get Darnold. I will, however, agree that it was a mistake to pick up the 5th-year option on Darnold's contract before the season even began. I'll give you that one.
I just don't understand why many folks believe Darnold was Rhule's first choice. They were seriously interested in Deshaun Watson before his off-the-field situation arose and they attempted to get Matthew Stafford from the Lions but he denied the trade thanks to his no-trade clause in his contract. Rhule knew Bridgewater wasn't going to be the answer, so why stick with him? They took a chance on Darnold hoping he could flip a switch once he arrived to Carolina and become the player everyone thought he could be when he came into the league. It gave Carolina a young quarterback that was near the same age as the other rookie quarterbacks but already had three years of NFL experience. It didn't work out and now, they'll turn their attention to getting it right this offseason. Whether it be trading for another quarterback or taking one in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Panthers are going to figure out that position. They have no choice but to do so.
With the team losing eight of the past ten games after starting 3-0, there is a lot of frustration showing from the fan base much of whom doesn't believe in Rhule's process. Earlier this week, Rhule was asked if rebuilding in the NFL is any different to rebuilding a program at the collegiate level and he also explained why the season has unfolded the way it has.
"They're the same. It's the same situation. I think the concept of regression is there just because we're turning the ball over too much. In some areas, yes. I think our defense is improved this year from last year. You go through that first year and you try to get something established. You get into the second year and you have some good moments, you have some bad moments, you have ups and downs, you try to build consistency. You always talk about it [consistency] and you don't always see it so people ask you how come they're not doing it? Well, sometimes you don't have the margin for error and we just don't have a tremendous margin for error right now and it shows up in some of these games. Like I said, we've had five three turnover games. I take responsibility for that but the fact that we lost one of those in overtime, we lost one 21-18 to the Eagles and this one was a one-score game, I think shows tremendous grit by a lot of guys. We've just got to clean some things up. At all those places in year two, we had a better roster and the football was better. In year three, we continued to have a better roster and the football was better. I'm focused on right now. I'm certainly not looking at next year, I'm just trying to get ready for Buffalo."
If Carolina can get a quarterback in here that can take care of the football first and foremost, they will start winning more games. They don't need an elite thrower of the football, just someone who makes good decisions and keeps the ball out of harms way. With the pieces the Panthers have defensively, that's all they need out of the quarterback position.
Rebuilds are never fun but what matters most is having a head coach that knows how to navigate the ups and downs along the way. This isn't Rhule's first rodeo.
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