Matt Rhule sees his time coaching the Panthers as a learning experience, but not a particularly enjoyable one.
Rhule, who was fired by the Panthers during the 2022 season with a record of 11-27, told Pete Thamel of ESPN he experienced things in Carolina that he’s not going to let himself go through again at his new job as head coach at Nebraska.
“Going through the fire in Carolina was a purifying fire that melts away all the impurities, all the hubris, all the worrying about stuff that doesn’t matter,” Rhule said. “I learned very much to worry about what matters. I have a focus and a desire in me. I watched what my kids had to go through in Carolina, and we’re not going to let ‘em go through that here.”
The most important lesson Rhule may have learned during his time in Carolina is that he’s a college coach. The Nebraska job is his third college head-coaching job. The Panthers job was his first, and likely last, as a head coach in the NFL.
Much is expected of Bryce Young this season.
As the No. 1 overall pick, the quarterback is the walk-in starter for the Panthers. He is doing all he can to prepare himself for his rookie season.
Young is working with his teammates at SMU in Dallas this week. Video from 2LiveCraig shows Young with receivers Terrace Marshall Jr., Adam Thielen, DJ Chark and Laviska Shenault. Rookie running back Cam Peoples tweeted he also is there.
Young has made an early impression with his veteran teammates.
“Just excited to get back around him ,” Thielen said in a recent interview with Rich Eisen. “You just never know what’s going to happen. Obviously, you know first overall pick with all the hype and all that. You know that there’s going to be a lot of potential, and he’s going to have a lot of talent. I think he surprised a lot of guys of how prepared he was for the NFL game. You know I think sometimes it’s hard in those moments, because you’re in shorts and a T-shirt, so you don’t want to get too excited . . . in the summer, because it’s a different game when you put pads on. At the same time, the way he moves in the pocket, the way that he adjusts and can get the ball out on time and accurate, and he can make adjustments and things like that. It’s impressive. It gets you excited to get back working together and to really try to start gaining ground. You just need those reps. I don’t care who you are, how talented you are, you’ve just got to have those reps. The more reps you get, the more confident you get. He’s a confident guy, which is exciting to be around.”
A new coaching staff feels like a new start for Panthers wide receiver Terrace Marshall.
Marshall was a 2021 second-round pick in Carolina and he’s started 12 of the 27 games he’s played since joining the Panthers. He has 45 catches for 628 yards and a touchdown in those appearances, which isn’t quite the level of production that the Panthers hoped to see when they added him to the roster in the draft but Marshall is hopeful about what life will be like with the new staff in place.
Marshall said he’s feeling “a fresh start, clean slate” with head coach Frank Reich, offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, and wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson steering the ship and that he’s heading into the season without any baggage from the last two years.
“I’d say one word to describe it is just clear – clear-minded, just ready to take on what this year’s going to bring,” Marshall said, via the team’s website. “Just taking it one day at a time, really. Just grinding it out with the team, getting work right with the scheme and QBs. I’m ready to go.”
The Panthers added DJ Chark, Adam Thielen, and second-round pick Jonathan Mingo to their receiving corps this offseason, so Marshall will have to show some spark on the field in order to avoid being pushed to the side as part of the fresh start in Carolina.
The Panthers made the signing of free agent defensive tackle Taylor Stallworth to a one-year deal official Friday. They needed a corresponding move to get him on the roster.
The team announced it waived safety Myles Dorn, who signed a futures contract with the Panthers in January.
Dorn entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2020, signing with the Vikings. He was on and off the team’s practice squad the past three seasons.
Dorn has played 14 games, all on special teams, the past two seasons. He has seen action on 208 snaps.
Stallworth played for Panthers head coach Frank Reich for two seasons in Indianapolis (2020-21) and spent time with the Chiefs and Texans last year. An undrafted rookie from South Carolina, he was with the Saints in 2018-19.
His radio show went first. His job went next.
Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports that former NFL receiver Keyshawn Johnson has been laid off by ESPN .
The news comes little more than a week after Marchand reported that Johnson’s morning show on ESPN Radio would be ending . One of the other hosts of the show, Max Kellerman, also was laid off.
But shed no tears for Keyshawn. He signed a five-year deal worth roughly $18 million last year. Per Marchand, Johnson will collect all of it.
Keyshawn also could be, as Marchand notes, a candidate to replace Shannon Sharpe on FS1’s Undisputed. However, he would likely have to give up his buyout to make that happen — and ESPN (which presumably gets some sort of write off for eating Johnson’s contract) would have to allow it.
More ESPN layoffs are expected today.
Johnson, the first overall pick in the 1997 draft, spent 11 years in the NFL, playing for the Jets, Buccaneers, Cowboys, and Panthers.