Nearly eight years ago, 49ers CEO Jed York made a depressingly accurate comment about professional football.
“I own this football team,” York said after firing his third coach in three years.Owners are not ruled out“I’m sorry, but that’s the way things are and that’s the way things are. That’s the way things are.”
It’s a sad reality for fans of the most dysfunctional teams. The most dysfunctional team in the NFL is currently run by a booze-spilling, cap-doffing billionaire who believes there’s a button he can push that will instantly turn his team from a mess into a contender.
So no, David Tepper should not be ruled out. There is nothing Panthers fans can do, short of initiating a sustained, multi-year boycott that would generate enough financial pressure to force him to sell the team.
Good luck with that. People don’t like to deprive themselves of things they like, even when it causes them agony. Currently, Tepper’s team could lead its followers to something even worse than that: apathy.
And with Tepper, who (in my opinion, based on the available evidence and applying common sense) forced Bryce Young to join his last coaching staff before forcing the new coaching staff to bench him, firmly in control of the team and likely looking for another incoming rookie quarterback to fall in love with (before falling out of love with him), it’s time for college players who are finally making money to prepare to take a stand.
It happens rarely, but it should happen often. For quarterbacks, that first team determines much of their career, and that first team can ruin or drastically delay a quarterback’s chance to reach his potential.
Look at the Jets. From Geno Smith to Christian Hackenberg to Sam Darnold to Zach Wilson, they’ve ruined one rookie quarterback after another. The Panthers are on the same path.
And the incoming quarterbacks have more power than ever. Their money is the source of that power. They have made a lot. They have (or should have) accumulated a lot. They can make it clear to the Panthers, privately or, if necessary, publicly, that they will not sign a Panthers contract. That whoever is selected by Tepper’s team will sit out a year, live off their NIL money (and possibly make more), and re-enter the draft next time.
Here’s how it works. If a player is drafted and doesn’t sign a contract, he enters the next draft again. If he does it again, he can choose any team he wants after the next draft.
The biggest challenge comes from the potential PR fallout. The media and fans have been so misled about the honor and privilege of being recruited that few will recognize the very real difference between being recruited by the best organizations and the worst.
Look at Patrick Mahomes. He could have been drafted by a team that would have made it difficult for him to fully develop and succeed (like, you know, the Jets). Instead, he fell to the bottom of the top 10, the Chiefs moved up 18 spots to sign him, and the rest is the story we’re all still watching.
At the other end of the spectrum are the Jets and the Panthers. Whiny quarterbacks, not whisperers. Teams that will keep Geno Smith from becoming Geno Smith and Sam Darnold from becoming Sam Darnold and, maybe, Zach Wilson from becoming Zach Wilson and Bryce Young from becoming Bryce Young.
Many believe the Texans would have taken Young if they had the first pick in the 2023 draft, which would have sent CJ Stroud to the Panthers. Who’s to say that if that had happened, Young would have been fine and Stroud would have simply been benched?
Think back to 1999. If Akili Smith goes to the Eagles and Donovan McNabb goes to Cincinnati, maybe Smith ends up a fringe Hall of Famer alongside Andy Reid, and McNabb starts 17 career regular-season games, winning just three.
It’s about time incoming quarterbacks took a stand when it comes to being forced to play for an inept organization. And there’s always strength in numbers. The Panthers should be the first target of a collective “no thanks” from top prospects.
Panthers fans won’t like hearing that. But if Tepper can’t be fired or held accountable in some other way (unless something is done that prompts the NFL to send Mary Jo White to Charlotte), something like an organized effort by top quarterbacks to refuse to play for Tepper’s team might be the only thing that gets him better, or even better, Panthers fans to sell out.