Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper made a good amount of his fortune in risk management. And, apparently, he just saw a risk worth taking.
Speaking with reporters for the first time since the team acquired this year’s No. 1 overall pick, head coach Frank Reich squeezed an interesting nugget into his press conference on Monday. When asked if there’s more pressure built into having the top selection, Reich said that it’s actually more of a relief—while giving much credit to general manager Scott Fitterer and Tepper.
“I wouldn’t say more pressure. I think that we’re just trying to get the right quarterback for us,” he replied. “We knew at nine it was a hard spot. It was a hard spot to be at. So when you started lookin’ at options to get up—Scott, I can’t tell you how great of a job he did in navigating that whole thing through the combine and beyond. He was masterful and it turned out to be what we think is really a win-win. Obviously, we had to give up a lot to get to nine to one.
“We had other options to get up and looked at all those. And this is where, really, Mr. Tepper, I thought, had some really great insight in the process as we evaluated those options. His analysis of those options, I thought, was spot on—kinda helped push us to the right decision to get up to No. 1 and to make that decision and to be in control.”
That decision saw the ninth overall pick, 61st overall pick, next year’s first-rounder, 2025’s second-rounder and wide receiver DJ Moore go to Chicago in exchange for that control. And although it was a heavy price to pay, it was one worth coughing up, according to a pretty decent numbers guy in Tepper.
