Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper was supposed to change the franchise for the better after taking over for Jerry Richardson. Instead, the Panthers were the worst NFL team in 2023 and it seems clear Tepper played a significant part in what happened.
The Panthers’ 2023 campaign was disastrous. Tepper invested heavily in the coaching staff, hiring Frank Reich as head coach and building one of the most well-paid and highly-regarded collections of assistant coaches in the NFL. However, what seemed like the perfect environment for rookie quarterback Bryce Young to learn ultimately turned into a disaster.
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Things turned ugly very fast for Carolina. As Young struggled early in the regular season, many prominent members of the Panthers coaching staff wanted to bench him in favor of Andy Dalton. However, the coaches were overruled and there were even bigger problems going on inside the facility.
According to Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda, Tepper reportedly had the equivalent of spies working within the Panthers’ coaching staff and locker room. Among them was offensive line coach James Campen, who “made a few enemies within the organization” as he operated as the eyes and ears for Tepper.
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Campen, who was let go by Carolina after they hired Dave Canales as head coach, wasn’t the only one spying for Tepper. As previously detailed by Joseph Person and Dianna Russini of The Athletic, Reich was undermined by his own coaching staff with Campen and special teams coordinator Chris Tabor reporting what they saw to Tepper and passing along any issue they had to the owner. It was described as a “Hunger Games” culture, with staff members secretly communicating with Tepper behind Reich’s back.
Pauline said the buzz around the Shrine Bowl practices this week is that Tepper’s spies within the organization played a massive role in destroying team chemistry. In addition, Panthers’ players have shared publicly that Young also had too many coaches in his head giving him conflicting advice.
Fortunately for Carolina’s team culture moving forward, Campen and Tabor are both not going to be part of Canales’ coaching staff. While it remains possible that Tepper will eventually find new assistants to report directly to him, for now, the Panthers’ organization seems to be in a better place.
