This is a good hire…if not a little unfair to Steve Wilks. The Carolina Panthers have hired former Colts HC Frank Reich to be the team’s new head coach, signaling the end of the Steve Wilks interim era.
First off, let me just say that this is a good hire for the Panthers.
Frank Reich may have overstayed his welcome in Indianapolis, but that wasn’t his fault. That Colts team completely collapsed after about Week 6 as the highest paid offensive line in the NFL played like an XFL unit, the vaunted defense regressed into a shadow of its former self, and Reich, the renowned QB whisperer, was given backups, busts and broken QBs to be his starter after the surprise retirement of Andrew Luck.
I mean, you can’t say it’s not impressive that Reich was able to lead the Colts to the playoffs in 2020 and had an overall record of 40-33-1 when his starting QBs were Andrew Luck (for just one season), Jacoby Brissett, a beaten-down Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, a broken Matt Ryan, and Sam Ehlinger. Though, it’s also obvious that Reich was always doomed to fail as the league, and especially the AFC, is QB driven and dominated.
But the Colts are no longer the former Buffalo Bills QBs’ problem anymore.
In Carolina, Reich now has offensive weapons like D’Onta Freeman, Sam Hubbard, DJ Moore, Terence Marshall Jr., a Top-15 offensive line, and the 9th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Yeah, the Panthers are currently app. $8M over the cap, but that can easily be fixed with some player cuts and letting unneeded players walk in free agency.
Nonetheless, what makes this job so enticing for a QB whisperer like Frank Reich is the flexibility the Panthers have at the QB position.
The Panthers can literally go in any direction Reich wants as they can generate enough cap space to go out and sign a veteran QB like Derek Carr (who will be cut/traded), Jimmy Garoppolo, Geno Smith, Lamar Jackson (if the Ravens can’t get a deal done with him), or they can use their 9th overall pick to draft a QB like CJ Stroud, Will Levis, or Anthony Richardson.
And, seeing how Reich was cursed with old, decrepit, or just downright bad QBs most of his tenure with the Colts, that has to be an exciting prospect to work with a handpicked “partner” (so to speak).
As for now ex-Panther interim HC Steve Wilks, this firing really is uncalled for. After a horrendous 1-4 start under Matt Rhule that saw the HC fired and franchise face Christian McCaffrey traded to the 49ers, Wilks was able to lead the Panthers to a 7-10 record (he went 6-6) and missed out on the playoffs by one game.
Sure, the NFC South was a horrible division and all the teams in it didn’t deserve a playoff spot (even though the Bucs ended up making it), but the Panthers would have finished at the bottom with a 3-14 or 4-13 record if not for Wilks leadership.
In fact, the Panthers were one of the hottest teams to close out the season as they finished with a 4-2 record in their final 6 games, with their 30-24 loss to the Bucs in Week 17 the result that sealed their fate outside the playoffs.
To be honest, if I was in charge of the Panthers, I would have stuck with Wilks on a full-time basis as he showed he could lead a bad team to a mediocre record, despite the fact that all of its star talent was either traded away, cut, or vocally wanted out of the organization.
I hope Wilks can pick up another job quickly as he is definitely a guy teams should want around the franchise.
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