After firing Marty Hurney with two games left in the season, Panthers owner David Tepper made it clear that he would be making an exhaustive search for a general manager that would not only help new head coach Matt Rhule build a roster, but use a more data-driven approach than the old-school Hurney used when he was putting the Carolina Panthers together in each of his previous stints as general manager.
“I’m a very process-oriented, analytical person. Not that Marty’s not … I think, Matt from the get go, we talked about process, process, process,” Tepper said last month after making the move. “It would have been, a little bit more evolving on Marty’s side on some of these new processes. I guess, new age processes, if you want to call it that. Which can happen, it’s a question when you want to happen, it’s kind of a natural time [to move on].”
“You look at successful organizations, and there’s a certain alignment between the head coach and the GM,” Tepper said. “To think that you can do that without some sort of alignment is nuts. So to not have a head coach with some input into that is stupid. I don’t want to be stupid, OK?”
“I want everything to be collaborative,” said Rhule. “I want to work with somebody that wants to get the players and establish the vision that we believe in…I want to collaborate with someone that wake up every morning saying, ‘hey, how can I get the right players to make our offense, defense and special teams work?'”
With the 2020 season officially in the books, the Panthers finishing 5-11 and many decisions, including whether or not to draft a quarterback in the top ten in the 2021 draft, to be made, Tepper and the Panthers have wasted no time in reaching out to personnel around the league to figure out one of the final pieces in the braintrust that will guide Carolina into the next era of Panthers Football.
“I’m excited to get going on this offseason,” said Rhule. “This will be one of the most pivotal offseasons for the franchise.”
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On this page, we’ll track the interviews, whether they’re found through league sources, national reports or other lines that we’ve used to get the latest news.
Panthers GM Interview Subjects:
- A league source has confirmed the Panthers have requested interviews with Nick Caserio (Patriots Director of Player Personnel), Joe Schoen (Bills Asst GM), Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (Browns VP of Football Ops)
- Ian Rapoport (and others) has reported the Panthers requested permission to interview Adam Peters (49ers VP of Player Personnel), Ryan Poles (Assistant Director of Player Personnel) and are “lining up” and interview with former Giants GM Jerry Reese. In addition, Chiefs Director of Football Administration Brandt Tilis has been requested, per Peter Schrager.
- Per Tom Pelissero, the Panthers have reached out to Colts Assistant General Manager Ed Dodds. This was confirmed to The Riot Report by a league source.
- League sources confirmed to The Riot Report that the Panthers have requested to interview Saints Assistant GM Jeff Ireland.
- The Panthers have requested to interview Bears Assistant Director of Player Personnel Champ Kelly, per Ian Rapoport.
- A league source confirmed to The Riot Report that Monti Ossenfort, who left the Patriots to become the Titans director of player personnel last offseason, has also been requested as an interview subject.
Interviews Already Held
According to Darin Gantt on the team website, the Panthers interviewed Browns vice president of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and former Giants GM Jerry Reese on Monday and four additional candidates Tuesday, including Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio (who has been hired as the Texans GM), Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen, Titans director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort, and Saints assistant GM/college scouting director Jeff Ireland.
Second Interviews
After an initial round of 15 virtual interviews, the Panthers met in person with Titans director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort, 49ers vice president of player personnel Adam Peters, and Chiefs assistant director of player personnel Ryan Poles on Tuesday. Seahawks vice president of football operations Scott Fitterer had his second interview Wednesday – a decision is expected to be finalized this week.
