Panthers owner David Tepper’s signing Matt Rhule to a seven-year, $63 million deal in 2020 was no small gesture. For one, it angered fellow members of the NFL owners’ club, raising the entry price for unproven talent beyond the standard four-year deals they were accustomed to. But, more significantly, it was a gamble on the idea that a roster in need of rebuilding could be rebuilt by someone whose best efforts in that regard came in the NCAA landscape, where talent equity and acquisition are more a game of effort and salesmanship.
The Panthers fired Rhule on Sunday less than three full years into that seven-year contract, and, in many ways, Rhule has changed the coaching landscape irreversibly because of those same considerations Tepper weighed at the time.