In the midst of another injury-plagued, sub .500 season, the Carolina Panthers fired offensive coordinator Joe Brady. Former running backs coach, Jeff Nixon has taken over the play-calling duties to finish the season. There’s a familiarity with Nixon. He was Rhule’s Offensive coordinator at Baylor. Turning to Nixon is very on-brand for Rhule who has brought a lot of his same staff with him from Temple, to Baylor and now Carolina.
The Panthers missed an opportunity not promoting quarterbacks coach Sean Ryan. The rationale is solid: The Panthers have struggled under center to the point of signing Cam Newton off the street with the expectation that he’d be better than Sam Darnold (attained) and lead them into the playoffs (not happening in these conditions). The possibility of Ryan taking over at offensive coordinator, in theory, makes sense. Ryan could’ve helped Newton better acclimate himself to the system and diversified the offense.
With all of that being said, it doesn’t really matter who’s the offensive coordinator or the position coaches, the Panthers are better off cleaning house at the end of the year on offense and making a new start. Get a new offensive coordinator and new position coaches. It isn’t like the Panthers have anything to lose. Currently, they are ranked 20th in passing and 22nd in rushing. The Panthers are also 22nd in scoring, so why not move in another direction offensively after the season? If Carolina decides to blow up the entire offensive coaching staff Rhule must be open to diverse philosophies. His affinity to pull from his network of coaches due to relationships is admirable and noble, however, when it’s not working other voices and styles must be considered.
At 5-7 on the year through 13 weeks, the Panthers’ playoff hopes are unlikely. The only component salvageable is the defense. The time to prepare for next year is now and it starts with the coaching staff on offense.