Rhule’s decision to hire Brady — who was college football’s “it” coordinator after helping lead
Joe Burrow and LSU to the 2019 national championship — will go in the loss column for Rhule when Tepper is making his pros-and-cons list.
Rhule gave Brady a three-year contract — believed to be worth about $2 million annually — to call the Panthers’ offensive plays, despite the fact he’d never worked with him and the then-30-year-old had never done so in a full-time capacity at any level.
Brady arrived in Charlotte as a package deal: A couple of months after he was hired the Panthers signed quarterback
Teddy Bridgewater, who had spent a year together in New Orleans when Brady was a low-level offensive assistant for Sean Payton.
Bridgewater and Brady were close, although that didn’t stop Teddy Two Gloves from throwing Brady under the bus. Bridgewater indicated Brady was late getting a play called during a critical moment at Minnesota last year, then dumped on Brady last offseason by telling the “All Things Covered” podcast the Panthers didn’t practice the two-minute or red zone offenses.
With
Christian McCaffrey missing all but three games, the Panthers finished 21st in the
NFL in total offense and 24th in scoring offense in Rhule’s first season, although they were just the fifth team in league history to finish with four players with 1,000 scrimmage yards.
But Tepper made it clear he was not a fan of Bridgewater, so they jettisoned him to Denver in favor of
Sam Darnold — an ill-fated decision that falls squarely on Rhule and general manager Scott Fitterer. Darnold’s promising, three-game start turned out to be a mirage, but Brady’s offense wasn’t much to look at, either.
Nor was it Brady’s decision to start free agency last March by signing a couple of low-graded, mid-tier offensive linemen in
Cam Erving and
Pat Elflein. Still, Brady didn’t help himself, despite his reputation as an offensive wunderkind.
By all accounts, Brady is a smart, hard-working coach. But he seemed overmatched on game days, from his inability to make effective halftime adjustments to poor game management. The Vikings’ example cited by Bridgewater was far from the only time the Panthers seemed to be struggling to decide on a play, while
Robby Anderson was livid when Brady didn’t start running double moves when the Eagles’ defensive backs were sitting on routes in a Week 5 loss this season.
And while the Panthers have had a top-3 defense all year, Brady’s offense entered Sunday ranked 28th in total offense and passing offense, which was supposed to be his specialty.
