REPORT: Panthers Not Expected to Move on from Matt Rhule
Through the first 30 games of his tenure as the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, Matt Rhule owns a 10-20 record. When team owner David Tepper signed him to a 7-year deal in 2020, he knew this wasn't going to be an immediate turnaround and that it would be a process.
"You can see how he built these [college] programs and how he takes things that are hard and makes them better," Tepper told reporters the day he introduced Rhule as his head coach. "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?"
The results may not be there right now but good things have happened despite what several outsiders may feel. Rhule and his coaching staff completely transformed the defense into one of the top units in the league. They dedicated an entire draft class and invested a lot of money in free agency to improving that side of the ball. It's still a young defense that has room to grow but the foundation has been built with guys such as DE Brian Burns, DT Derrick Brown, LB Haason Reddick, LB Shaq Thompson, CB Jaycee Horn, CB CJ Henderson, and S Jeremy Chinn.
The struggles on the offensive side of the ball, particularly at quarterback, is what is holding this team back from being competitive. This offseason you can fully expect the Panthers to be active in the trade market once again to land a veteran quarterback that will put an end to the rotating door behind center. Then there is also the possibility of taking a signal-caller in the 2022 NFL Draft.
According to a report from Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, the Panthers are not expected to part ways with Matt Rhule now or in the offseason. The belief is that he will return as the Panthers' head coach in 2022 but to stick around beyond that, he has to start winning games next season.
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