Sunday was a day that Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper would presumably like to forget.
Not only did the Panthers suffer their worst loss of the season (26-0 to the Jacksonville Jaguars), but video surfaced on social media seemingly showing Tepper tossing a drink on a Jaguars fan sitting directly in front of his suite.
Tepper threw his empty cup down and stormed off as the fan tried to climb from his seat into the box where Tepper was sitting.
The incident couldn’t have come at a worse time for Tepper, who’s in the midst of a head-coaching search after firing Frank Reich 11 games into the season.
Tepper has a reputation for being a difficult owner to work for, and The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported a few weeks ago that several Panthers employees warned Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who’s a reported target of Tepper’s to succeed Reich, about taking the Panthers job if offered.
Beyond Tepper’s flippant nature as a boss, the Panthers head-coaching job is one that top candidates don’t seem to want. Despite having the worst record in the NFL, the Panthers are without their first-round pick in 2024, which is the first overall pick, because of last year’s trade to draft Bryce Young.
Young has thrown for 2,783 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and struggled for much of his rookie season with his two top targets being 33-year-old Adam Thielen and rookie Jonathan Mingo, who has yet to score an NFL touchdown through 17 games.
Young has also been sacked 59 times this year while behind an offensive line that struggles to block any team with even a semi-competent pass-rush.
Carolina’s next head coach is tasked with mentoring Young, finding at least one or two more weapons for him to throw to and adding two or three more lineman who can protect him without a first-round pick and just $39M in cap space.
