In a very surprising move today the Carolina Panthers fired general manager Dave Gettleman. The move comes 9 days before the Panthers are scheduled to report to training camp at Wofford College. Carolina Panthers had the most successful three-year stretch in franchise history (playoffs-wise) under Gettleman, going 40-23-1, making the playoffs each season from 2013-2015, winning three straight NFC South titles, and going 15-1 and reaching Super Bowl 50 during the 2015 season. But the following season Panthers took a step back, going 6-10 and finishing last in the NFC South. The reportedly reason he was fired was Gettleman’s lack of interest in extending tight-end Greg Olsen’s and linebacker Thomas Davis contracts, who’s two of owner Jerry Richardson’s favorite players. There’s another report saying there has been tension between the front office and the locker room because of unpopular moves Gettleman made and it's only increased of late. Gettleman parted ways with serval of Carolina’s all-time best players in receiver Steve Smith Jr., running back DeAngelo Williams and cornerback Josh Norman. A couple of names to look out for are Trent Kirchner, who works in the Seattle Seahawk’s front office and Ryan Cowden, who is with the Tennessee Titans. But their talks of the Panthers might bring back former Panthers GM Marty Hurney to be the intern GM since there’s only a month before the season begins and they do not want to rush into things. Whoever the Panthers hire, it will be the third general manager head coach Ron Rivera will have worked with.
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In my opinion, the Panthers just made a terrible move, I truly believe that Dave Gettleman was a great general manager, who helped the Panthers win three NFC South titles, NFC championship and a trip to Super Bowl. A lot of people have said his success was due to the last GM who drafted Cam Newton and Luke Kuechly, but Gettleman signed those players long term, fixed the payroll problem the Panthers had when he came in and drafted/signed the right players, players who didn’t get in trouble with the law and was the best fit for the team. I think the biggest thing he did was that he made the Panthers into a franchise that players wanted to go too and people talked about outside of North Carolina. People knew players who played for the Panthers, had prime time games and got the city of Charlotte into the Carolina Panthers again. He was a big part of that. I understand that Greg Olsen and Thomas Davis are two main faces of the organization and that you should keep them on the team, but you shouldn’t fire your GM that turned your organization around in a great way because he doesn’t want to give those extensions. Gettleman and Olsen/Davis could’ve come to the middle ground and agreed to terms both parties would’ve been happy with. No player is bigger than the team. I just worried that the Panthers will go back to not even mediocrity but back to where they won’t have primetime games and the people stop caring for the Panthers. Well, tell me what you think of this surprising move in the comment section below!
