On Friday night, the Carolina Panthers hired Josh McCown as their new quarterbacks coach. But, uh, why are they hiring a quarterbacks coach when they don’t even have an offensive coordinator yet?
Well, that’s because they’re probably waiting for the season to be officially over with.
While gauging Carolina’s growing coaching staff in a new report from Saturday, Joe Person of The Athletic noted that the Panthers—along with a few other teams—could be waiting on Super Bowl LVII to make their next personnel move. Person, who also suggests that Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson could be the top pick for Carolina head coach Frank Reich, writes:
Many in league circles believe Philadelphia offensive coordinator Shane Steichen, who interviewed for the Panthers’ head-coaching vacancy, will be the Colts’ next coach. If that happens, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni likely will promote Johnson to offensive coordinator.
Johnson’s work with Jalen Hurts makes him attractive to a team like the Panthers, who may finally draft a top-10 quarterback this year. But if Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon gets the Cardinals’ job, he almost certainly would try to take Johnson with him to coach Kyler Murray.
Johnson, a reported target of former interim head coach Steve Wilks as well, helped push Hurts to an MVP-caliber campaign in the NFL’s third-best total offense. So he should, obviously, have quite a few opportunities ahead of him.
But what if the opportunity he chooses isn’t in Charlotte?
Person added that Jacksonville Jaguars passing game coordinator Jim Bob Cooter, who interviewed with the team this past week, may be the next name in line.
May the dominoes soon begin to fall . . .
