Will new Panthers GM Dan Morgan’s Seahawks roots shape head coaching hire?

National Football League

Published Jan. 24, 2024 10:59 a.m. ET

The Panthers have taken the first step in their leadership reboot, promoting Dan Morgan to be their president of football operations and general manager, with their head coach job remaining one of five spots still unfilled across the league.

Morgan, 45, has spent 15 years working his way up NFL front offices and had been Carolina’s assistant GM since 2021. He’s a nod to the franchise’s past as well: The Panthers drafted him in the first round in 2001, and the linebacker played his entire seven-year career there. When Carolina lost to the Patriots in the Super Bowl in the 2003 season, Morgan had 18 tackles, still a Super Bowl record.

“Dan has a thorough knowledge of our football personnel and a clear vision to take us where we all want to go,” Panthers owner David Tepper said in a statement announcing the hiring. “We know he will attack this opportunity with the same intensity he did as a Panthers player.”

It seems counterintuitive to promote from within after a 2-15 season that got both head coach Frank Reich and general manager Scott Fitterer fired. Tepper has churned through coaches and GMs in his six years as Carolina’s owner, and the goal here is to find the right hire to end that cycle, to bring back continuity as the Panthers work to end a six-year playoff drought.

The NFL hiring cycle can pick up pace as more teams and candidates are eliminated from the playoffs. Three teams have hired head coaches, with the Raiders (Antonio Pierce) and Patriots (Jerod Mayo) promoting from within, and the Titans hiring Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, who had done a virtual interview with the Panthers. Carolina is now competing directly against Atlanta, Seattle, Washington and the Chargers, in many cases for the same candidates.

The Falcons, as division rivals, have been more ambitious in pursuing the most experienced candidates available, with two interviews with Bill Belichick and one each with Jim Harbaugh and Mike Vrabel. The Panthers have had no known interviews with those three, but they have interviewed 11 candidates, with only Callahan now out of play.

Could Morgan’s background in Seattle be an advantage for two candidates? Morgan worked with the Seahawks from 2010-17, finishing his time there as the team’s director of pro personnel, and he overlapped with two assistants who have already interviewed. Dan Quinn, 53 and now the Cowboys‘ defensive coordinator, spent three years in Seattle as DC, including when the Seahawks won the Super Bowl in 2014. Current Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales, 42, joined the Seahawks the same year as Morgan in 2010, working as the team’s receivers coach for eight years while Morgan was there.

Morgan’s time in Seattle is arguably the most successful time of his career, something he might want to borrow from in helping the Panthers find a new coach. The Seahawks made the playoffs six times in his eight years there, winning 10 or more games five times and reaching two Super Bowls, winning one. Quinn was briefly a big part of that, and while Canales was never more than a position coach there, he spent 14 seasons with Pete Carroll and has much the same energy and positivity.

Quinn has been an NFL head coach, going 43-42 in six years with the Falcons, and the Cowboys were a top-five defense in points and yards allowed this season, making him a coveted candidate. Canales, having just finished his first year as a coordinator and playcaller, is less established, but also has a specialty that could line up well with Carolina.

If the priority in the hire is finding someone who can develop quarterback Bryce Young, the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft, Canales has had two successful reclamation projects in the past two years, first with Geno Smith in Seattle, then with Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay.

When the Bucs and Panthers played in the regular-season finale, Morgan and Canales met on the sidelines before the game, catching up briefly. Canales reportedly was in the Charlotte area on Wednesday for a second (and in-person) interview with Carolina officials.

The Panthers are in the hunt for some of the top assistants in the league, including three still alive in the playoffs, having interviewed Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken and defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, as well as Lions OC Ben Johnson. Choosing among them could mean waiting for weeks still, and other top NFL jobs could go to assistants the Panthers have interviewed, like Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris and Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.

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How the next few weeks unfold will give a sense of how the Panthers’ job is seen among the NFL’s openings. Tepper’s history of firing coaches quickly, combined with the uncertainty of Young and his surrounding talent and the lack of a first-round pick, could mean the Panthers must wait for other more attractive jobs to be filled. A week from now, there could be five jobs still open, or there could be one.

This hire is essentially Tepper’s best opportunity to rebrand his franchise, to find a leader who will join Young as the core identity of the Panthers moving forward. Who that will be — and how long that coach is able to stay on the job — remains to be seen.

Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.