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It’s been a bit of a murky offseason for the Panthers so far. Frank Reich was brought in as the head coach. He went and hired Thomas Brown as offensive coordinator. Then they drafted quarterback Bryce Young 1st overall in the draft.
There was an interesting article that came out a few weeks ago. It said the offensive coordinator-head coach relationship between Reich and Brown is “not kumbaya,” and that was a quote taken directly from Reich who was asked about the working conditions with Brown. The big problem that is beginning to brew is Brown, who is coming over from the Rams, is a Sean McVay coaching tree disciple. But Reich, of course, is a long-time offensive mind in the NFL.
Reich said:
“Yeah, on one level it’s not easy because the offense, it’s your baby. But you understand, hey, we’re adopting someone, and this is going to make our family bigger and stronger, and that’s really the approach we’ve taken and it has. I respect Thomas’s football mind. I respect who he is as a person. We’ve had a number of disagreements and sometimes I’ll say, ‘OK, Thomas, you won that one, we’re going to do it your way’; and sometimes it’s, ‘You know what, we’re going to do it the old way, my way,’ and it’s just been a give and take. I think through that, this isn’t kumbaya, it’s like we’re challenging each other in meetings.”
The challenge seems to have gone to Reich, the head coach, who has the upper hand, because he will retain play calling duties. At least that’s how it stands now. Reich said he will call plays to begin the season and Brown will not be calling plays. When you think about who the Panthers could be, you probably want Brown calling the plays because he comes from the McVay offense, which has been very successful. Back in February when he was hired, he was ambushed by reporters in his press conference, and Brown was asked about his offensive identity.
Brown said:
“It’s about creating chaos for the defense by utilizing shifts, motions and using varying tempo as well. Everything starts up front. Everyone talks about about being balanced offensively. But balance to me doesn’t mean 50-50 from a run/pass standpoint. It means win the football game and do whatever is necessary. Stats are awesome, but the No. 1 goal is to build leads and win games. So if we have to run it 40 times in a row or throw it 40 times in a row to win, it’s based on our effort when it comes to the offense in doing what’s best for the team.”
All those things that Brown says is from the perspective of a younger offensive mind, who comes from the McVay system to a Panthers offense that ranked 29th last year, it promotes a lot of that upside. But it may have sort of a governor on it, from Reich, an old-school minded coach who is perhaps unwilling to give up play calling. Another potential hurdle the Panthers could face is the fact that it’s in line right now for Andy Dalton to start Day 1 as QB. There was an Albert Breer report that came out in late May with more information on why Reich is not naming Young as his starting QB, at least not now in the spring.
From Breer:
“I’m told the staff is trying to make sure the operation as a whole in Reich’s first year is running at an optimal level. Most of the Panthers veterans have been in house for five weeks already as the coaches try to keep pushing that level higher with two weeks of work under their belts as part of that. The rookies, including Bryce Young, are all well behind that pace. Reich, for obvious reasons, doesn’t want to slow the pace to accommodate any rookie he thinks has to progress. Which is to say, now it will be up to Young to catch up to his older veteran teammates. When he does, the coaches will start transitioning and get him more work with the guys he’ll be playing with in the fall, but that has not yet happened.”
So not only is there this governor on the offensive play calling likely possible, but the same could be true on the full development of Young and his integration into this offense. Now, you can definitely see ways that things could succeed. But as it stands now, things seem to be trending in a bit of a standstill direction, which is not great news for the Panthers. Certainly a lot of upside with the pieces all around this team and what it could be with Brown as the offensive coordinator. But right now, it may be more trouble than not to start for the Panthers.