On Thursday, the Carolina Panthers hired Dave Canales as their next head coach. Like most coaches do, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator is expected to spend the next few weeks adding more personnel to the staff. This means the current coaches in Carolina could be in danger of losing their jobs.
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Carolina Panthers finally tell Chris Tabor he won’t be on team in 2024
Just over two weeks ago, on Jan. 12, then-interim head coach Chris Tabor tried to interview with the New York Giants for what was considered a lateral move, with interest in becoming their new special teams coordinator, the same position he held in Carolina.
Yet, for whatever reason, the Panthers blocked New York’s interview request, leaving Tabor without a chance to get ahead on finding a new job. Since Tabor was not interviewing for a promotion, the Panthers technically had the authority to deny any requests to speak with him about a special teams position.
But now that Canales has been hired, the Panthers informed Tabor that he would not be part of Carolina’s coaching staff in 2024, as expected.
Understandably, the Giants wanted to speak with Tabor. While he couldn’t help turn the Panthers’ season around after Frank Reich was fired, Tabor’s expertise is on special teams, where he was recently ranked as the second-best ST coordinator in the league, according to players participating in the NFLPA survey. It also makes sense that the Panthers didn’t want to quickly dismiss Tabor, as there was always a possibility that the new head coach would want to retain him too.
Meanwhile, the Giants hired Michael Ghobrial to be their new special teams coordinator just two days ago, the same moment Canales was hired in Carolina. Now Tabor will have to find a different team with interest, but judging on his resume and how other players view him, that shouldn’t be too difficult.
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