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So far, the presence of #1 overall draft pick Bryce Young has not been enough to reverse the Carolina Panthers' fortunes.
Less than a decade after appearing in a Super Bowl, the Panthers are in crisis as the sole winless team in the NFL. Carolina, sitting at 0-5, is under pressure from ownership to turn the tide in Week 6 against the 4-1 Miami Dolphins -- or the consequences could be serious and swift.
Carolina head coach Frank Reich on Monday offered insight into the Panthers' organizational structure and the involvement of owner David Tepper -- who seems to be growing impatient with his new quarterback-head coach tandem.
Tension with Tepper
While speaking to the media after Week 5, Reich -- in his first season as the Panthers' head coach -- discussed Tepper's insistence on forming a sustainable winner. It's why Tepper felt it necessary to not bring back interim head coach Steve Wilks and turn to Reich instead -- even though Wilks led the Panthers to six wins from their final 12 games in 2022.
(Tepper) wants to bring a winner to the Carolinas. He wants it now. He pushes me, and pushes us, to that end. He wants to do whatever it takes, turn over every stone, churn it as much as he has to to produce winning football.
With that in mind, the 0-5 record -- including four losses with Heisman Trophy winner Young under center -- has to be immensely disappointing to the hedge fund manager Tepper, who purchased the Panthers in 2018. This seems to have been communicated to Reich in a series of early-season meetings with the former Indianapolis head coach.
"There's different philosophies in ownership," Reich said. "Some owners kind of stay away and don't engage a whole lot. Other owners do. And his philosophy is he's gonna engage. And listen, it's only been a short experience, but it's been a really good experience. It hasn't been fun. It's not fun. ... But those meetings make me better and I trust they make us better."
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Buyer's remorse?
Rumors abounded before the 2023 NFL Draft that Reich wanted Carolina to select Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud with the #1 pick instead of Young. But Tepper apparently wanted Young, despite concerns that the Alabama star was too small to play the position at an elite level in the NFL.
Reich's talent ID may have been correct. Stroud has the Houston Texans in contention in the AFC South and has yet to throw an interception through five games. But Young is struggling to read NFL defenses at this early stage in his career -- and if the Panthers keep on losing, it seems Tepper will have little hesitation in taking action, even if it means dismissing the first-year coach.