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We have been trashing the Carolina Panthers for awhile. The team put together an improbable Super Bowl run followed up by a disaster season. The mastermind behind a team that failed to show up to the Super Bowl got rid of their general manager today.
GM Dave Gettleman has been relieved of his duties. https://t.co/KS8zxjhwOh
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) July 17, 2017
Life comes at you fast. It feels like only April when he was shockingly ranked as the league’s 7th best general manager by Rotoworld. It was only last month that the assistant general manager, Brandon Bean, was hired by the Buffalo Bills. They, uh, probably should have moved just a little bit faster. This timing is weird and suggests the Panthers have no clue what they are doing.
They miss out on promoting from within, and most importantly, they still have a head coach. Most general managers prefer their own guys in, so the options right now are terrible. The Panthers either hire a GM who looks for a new coach in August, or you limit your options to someone who will give Ron Rivera a one-year trial run that usually ends in disaster.
This is great.
Falcons fans will definitely miss Gettleman. He took best player available to nearly insane levels. He was unusually stingy with spending even when the team was flush with cap space.
Remember when they cut this guy with absolutely no replacement plan?
Its Okay! Dave I know how you feel..... #agent89 #stevesmithsr pic.twitter.com/czlwuG92Ck
— Steve Smith Sr (@89SteveSmith) July 17, 2017
Remember when they cut this guy with absolutely no replacement plan?
" "
— *Joshua R. Norman (@J_No24) July 17, 2017
Former players sure have some strong opinions about Gettleman.
I want to publicly say @Panthers is off my list of teams I won't play for due to the firing of that snake Dave gettleman! ✊
— DeAngelo Williams (@DeAngeloRB) July 17, 2017
Gettleman was pretty bad in free agency, but also pretty bad in the draft. Matt Kalil, who is objectively terrible, signed a $55 million deal. He drafted Shaq Thompson in the first round despite zero need at linebacker. The Panthers then used their top pick this year on Christian McCaffrey. Nothing against him, but most teams stopped drafting non-pass rush linebackers and running backs in the first round in the 1990s.
Now the Panthers will look to bounce back after a disaster season with a new general manager, and maybe a new coach. I don’t see how this could possibly go wrong.